D4 Scooby-Doo! Showdown in Tumbleweed County!
by wsdsrdbw4096
Summary: Sequel to Jeepers, it's the Creeper!, takes place after the events of SDWAY and rewrite of the 2017 DTV film Shaggy's Showdown! as part of my Dimension Four series. While visiting Shaggy's relatives in Tumbleweed County, the gang is drawn into a mystery when the Ghost of Dapper Jack Rogers begins haunting the town. Please read and review!
1. On the highway & a fright at night

**Author's note: And now comes my next installment of my Dimension Four series, folks!**

 **As the title suggests, this story is a rewrite of the 2017 Scooby DTV film _Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown!_ , which I considered to be one of the best DTV films since _Samurai Sword_.**

 **While the DTV film in question is quite good, like any post-2010 DTV film, _Shaggy's Showdown!_ has some flaws that I thought should be addressed. This story will do exactly that, in addition to my incorporating some more country music.**

 **This story takes place after the events of the series finale of SDWAY ( _Never Fool with a Phantom_ ), as well as after the events of the Scooby comic story _Ghost Riders in Disguise_ , which introduced Shaggy's identical-looking cousin Stetson.**

 **I don't own _Scooby-Doo_. Hanna-Barbera Productions and Warner Bros. does.**

* * *

Chapter 1: On the highway and a fright at night

 _July 22, 1971_

It was a hot midsummer night as the Mystery Machine drove down Interstate Highway 15, having had left Los Angeles as it drove through San Bernardino County.

Fred was behind the wheel as usual with Daphne and Velma seated with him on the front row, while at the back sat Shaggy and Scooby, the former with his guitar and wearing a cowboy hat, complete with a green long sleeve shirt, a brown vest, blue jeans, a belt and a pair of casual brown shoes.

In spite of the blistering heat (And the fact that the Mystery Machine doesn't have air conditioning, leaving the gang to resort to keeping the windows rolled down for fresh air, means the van was pretty much just as hot as outside.), Shaggy didn't seem to mind.

Also at the back with Shaggy and Scooby was a gramophone player, and the player is currently playing a disk from Johnny Cash's album _With His Hot and Blue Guitar_.

At the moment, the disk is on the ninth track playing the hit "I Walk the Line", and Shaggy is playing along with the music with his guitar and singing.

The song began not long after they exited I-15 at Baker and switched onto California State Route 127, where they continued on towards the state line with Nevada, whereupon the highway continues on as Nevada State Route 29.

 **(History note: This story takes place five years before the 1976 state highway renumbering in Nevada and as such, the present-day Nevada State Route 373 is referred to as its pre-1976 number)**

The F note that began the song started as they drove past a road sign indicating "Shoshone: 13 Miles; Death Valley Junction: 40 Miles"

After the first few introductory notes starting with the F note, followed by the drums joining in, then came the long F note played by the cello before Shaggy started to sing.

 **(Note: Please go onto YouTube and listen to _I Walk the Line_ while reading this part of the story and try to picture Shaggy singing the song. The lines in _italics_ belong to Johnny Cash, not me.)**

" _I keep a close watch on this heart of mine._ " Shaggy sang with his lips syncing with Johnny Cash's singing from the gramophone.

During the singing, Fred drove the Mystery Machine over a crack in the road, causing the needle of the gramophone player to jump a bit with the whole sound coming from the speaker sounding like as if Johnny Cash had a hiccup while recording the song.

Undeterred by the "hiccup", Shaggy kept singing.

" _Because your mine, I walk the line_." He sang.

Scooby then used his drumsticks to hit the nearby pile of pots and pans as if he was part of the band playing the drum in the recording, with the rhythm of him hitting the pots and pans matching the drums in the recording.

" _I find it very, very easy to be true._ " Shaggy continued. " _I find myself alone when each day is through._ "

With the surrounding desert around the highway and the sun setting in the distance, Shaggy's singing along with the gramophone playing _I Walk the Line_ fits the surrounding scenery.

" _Because your mine, I walk the line._ " Shaggy finally concluded after two minutes of singing along.

As the guitar music and the drums fade out, Velma and Daphne clapped their hands.

"That was really groovy, Shag." Daphne remarked as she and Velma clapped their hands.

"Yeah, it sure was." Fred agreed. "And thanks for inviting us all to your cousin Daniel's place at Tumbleweed for their annual rodeo show, Shag."

"Indeed." Velma said. "I suppose it's safe to say you might've lost count on how many cousins you've got working in ranches, huh?"

"Well, technically, Daniel's my third cousin twice-removed." Shaggy clarified. "Not like Stetson, who's my cousin and shares the same paternal grandfather with me, but anyways, the pleasure's mine, gang."

"You mentioned that Scooby has a brother that is living with him." Daphne said.

"Oh yes." Shaggy nodded. "Yabba Doo lives with Daniel and his wife Tawny over at Tumbleweed County."

"So when was the last time you visited Tumbleweed, Shag?" Fred asked.

"That will be this past March Break." Shaggy replied. "It consists of a trip on the _City of Los Angeles_ train operated by Union Pacific to San Bernardino and then a transfer onto the _Mojave Express_ that goes through Tumbleweed. Pops got us the tickets after Scooby learned from Yabba, who lives with Cousin Daniel, that Daniel's getting married so we went there for the wedding on March Break."

"Ah, no wonder you guys were in a rush to head home at the last day of school before March Break." Daphne remarked.

"Yeah." Shaggy nodded. "Packing was quite the nightmare and sometimes Scoob and I will take facing up a ghost than packing at the last minute."

"That should teach you guys to pack your stuff ahead of time before going on a trip." Fred said.

"Oh well." Daphne said. "Hopefully, this should be a break from all that mystery-solving we had, especially with the Ghost Riders we encountered while visiting your Cousin Stetson, Shag."

"Yeah. I certainly hope so." Shaggy nodded in agreement.

There was some murmuring in agreement from the others as the Mystery Machine continued on down the highway.

After reaching Death Valley Junction, the Mystery Machine switched onto State Route 190 before reaching a junction 2 miles in where they then switch onto State Route 329, which completely bypasses the national park's eastern boundary before running through the Mojave Desert along the state line in the northwest direction.

 **(California State Route 329 is a fictional highway I've made up. There's no actual State Route 329 in California.)**

Some minutes went by before they crossed the county boundary between Inyo County and Tumbleweed County, whereupon they passed a road sign saying "Juneberry: 5 Miles; Town of Tumbleweed (County Seat): 15 Miles"

Inyo County and Tumbleweed County can be considered as twin counties, as they were formed out of the territory of the unorganized Coso County in 1866.

The unorganized Coso County's territory ended up splitting into two counties with Tumbleweed County taking up the northern part of the former county, while Inyo County takes up the remaining two-thirds of the territory of the former unorganized county in the south.

"It looks like we're going to be arriving at town soon, gang." Fred announced as they drove past the road sign.

Little did the gang realize what was in store for them at Tumbleweed.

* * *

That night, most of the town of Tumbleweed sleeps, knowing full well that they've got a full day of preparations for its annual rodeo festival in the upcoming weekend.

Among the people staying up was Larry Morrison, one of the ranch hands at the Crazy Q Ranch, who was in the process of finishing up some touches to the window frame of his house.

"Larry, are you almost done out there?" His wife called from their bedroom upstairs.

"Yeah, as soon as I'm finished with this window frame, Jen." Larry called back, unaware that at this moment, a shadow started to form on his front porch with a figure approaching him.

Larry then returned to hammering a nail on the window frame as he muttered to no one in particular, "Man, with the rodeo show approaching, the town's buzzing with that old legend on Dapper Jack Rogers' ghost haunting the town again."

He shrugged before continuing, "Oh well, maybe it's just someone spreading that rumour to generate a scare and spook everyone out of town."

He then chuckled at his remark.

"What kind of a fool will spread such a rumour anyways?" Larry said before shaking his head, and it was then that he noticed a shadow forming over him, together with the sound of spurs of cowboy boots clicking, with the sound becoming more pronounced as the steps went.

Feeling uneasy, Larry decided to put down the hammer and turned around, only for his face to go pale when he took shock on what was standing in front of him.

"Jumping jelly beans!" He exclaimed in horror as he came to be face-to-face with the figure in front of him. "It can't be!"

The figure marched towards him menacingly before pulling out his two guns and aimed them forward.

Swiftly, Larry leaped off the porch and raced away just as the figure opened fire, shooting out green flames and carving out a large letter "J" on the outside wall.

"He's back!" Larry screamed as he ran into town. "He's back!"

His running and screaming woke up many of the townsfolk, and each building and house he passed by have their lights turned on with the townsfolk looking outside to see what on earth is going on.

Larry then arrived at the sheriff's office, where he bursted into the building, waking up the sheriff as a result.

"What the blazes is the meaning of bursting into my office at this time of the night, Mr. Morrison?" The sheriff demanded as Larry catches his breath before pointing outside.

"The Ghost of Dapper Jack!" Larry shouted as he pointed outside. "He's back in town, Sheriff Moore!"

"Dapper Jack's ghost?" Sheriff Moore asked before laughing. "Oh, don't be ridiculous! It's simply just the town's old legend on the third sheriff."

"Well, do you honestly think I'll be panting like this if I **did not** see his ghost, sheriff?" Larry retorted.

Before the sheriff could respond, there were some screams from outside, accompanied by a sinister laughter.

"Oh no." Sheriff Moore gasped. "It can't be!"

"See for yourself, sheriff." Larry said as he gestured towards the door.

Without another word, the sheriff followed Larry out of the door and stepped onto the town's main street.

Sure enough, the Ghost of Dapper Jack Rogers was terrorizing the whole town, shooting green flames and carving carving out large letter "J"s around the town building.

The scene zoomed to the Ghost, where the ghost's resemblance to Shaggy can be seen clearly, other than the fact that the ghost also had a goatee and longer hair.

Seeing the ghost terrifying the townsfolk, Sheriff Moore turned back to the office as he said, "I'm going to mobilize the deputies and raise a posse to put a stop to that racket!"

After returning to his office, Sheriff Moore dialed a phone number and waited.

When the party on the other end answered, Moore barked, "Get me Deputy Dusty and his dog, too!"

* * *

 **First story of 2018, folks! Happy New Year!**

 **Please read and review!**


	2. The arrival and welcoming committee

Chapter 2: The arrival and welcoming committee

A short while later, the Mystery Machine pulled into the town of Tumbleweed, which is also serves as the county seat for Tumbleweed County.

"Here we are, gang." Fred announced as they drove past the "Entering Town of Tumbleweed; Pop. 601" sign. "The town of Tumbleweed."

"Gee, it sure is quite the small town." Daphne remarked as they drove past the sign.

"Yeah." Shaggy nodded. "Like, at least it's peaceful and calm, not like the busy city life of Los Angeles or Coolsville."

As they drove through town with Fred following Shaggy's directions on which way to his Cousin Daniel's place, the others looked around.

"Golly." Velma remarked. "We must've arrived at quite the late time."

"Yeah." Fred nodded. "There's no one around."

"I guess many of the townsfolk go to bed early." Daphne said as she checked her wristwatch. "After all, it's only 9:30."

It didn't take long before the Mystery Machine approached a ranch at the outskirts of town, whereupon they parked the van onto the available parking space.

"Here's Cousin Daniel's place, gang." Shaggy said as he and Scooby got up.

The duo were first to get off the Mystery Machine, where they then made their way to the front door of the two-storey ranch house and knocked on the door.

"Coming!" A voice can be heard from the other side of the door, then some footsteps can be heard before the door opened, revealing a tall young woman with a thin frame and light brown hair styled in a long braided ponytail.

She smiled when she saw Shaggy and Scooby on the other side of the door.

"Cousin Norville!" She smiled as she opened her arms, in time for Shaggy to give her a hug.

"Like, it's been a while, Tawny." Shaggy smiled as they shared an embrace. "How are things coming along?"

"Ah, very well." Tawny smiled before looking at Scooby and added, "Scooby."

"Row are you?" Scooby asked as Tawny kneeled down to rub his head.

"I'm doing well, and so is Yabba." Tawny said. "I'm sure Yabba is gonna be happy when he sees you here."

"Is Cousin Daniel at work?" Shaggy asked as he nodded at the porch light. "The porch light's still on, so I'm assuming that Cousin Daniel is still out at work."

"Oh yes." Tawny nodded. "Half an hour ago, he got called over to work by Sheriff Moore, saying that they've got a disturbance in town that requires the whole sheriff's office mobilized and a posse raised."

At the remark, Shaggy arched his eyebrows before sharing a look with Scooby.

"I wonder what kind of disturbance was that that required the entire sheriff's office be mobilized and a posse be raised?" Shaggy asked.

"Beats me." Tawny shrugged before seeing Fred and the girls getting off the Mystery Machine.

Eying Fred and the girls, Shaggy motioned them to come over.

"Cousin Tawny, I'd like to introduce you to my friends in Mystery Inc." He said as Fred and the girls approached them.

Gesturing to Fred, he said, "This is Frederick Jones. He's our group's fearless leader."

"Howdy." Fred said as he offered his hand to Tawny. "Call me Fred. It's nice meeting you."

"Likewise, Fred." Tawny smiled as she shook his hand.

Gesturing to Velma, Shaggy then continued, "This is Velma Dinkley. She frequently figures out the meanings behind the clues we've found during the course of a mystery."

"My pleasure." Velma smiled as she and Tawny shared a hug with each other. "Shaggy's been so excited to get here and introduce you to us."

"I'm sure he is." Tawny nodded as Shaggy's cheeks burned in embarrassment.

He then turned to Daphne before adding, "And this is Daphne Blake. She's a very good friend of ours and is happy to some fashion tips for you, Cousin Tawny."

"I'm sure you are." Tawny smiled as she shook hands and shared a hug with Daphne. "Maybe you can tell me what you've done everyday to keep your hair smooth."

"I'll be happy to share some fashion tips with you." Daphne smiled back. "It's my pleasure to finally meet you. Shag's been telling us about you and his cousin Daniel during most of the trip."

"I'm sure he has been talking a lot." Tawny nodded. "He's quite talkative, you know."

Before the scene got awkward, Fred stepped in.

"Anyways, we've got some luggage to unload, gang." He said as he gestured towards the Mystery Machine.

"Oh yes, that must've been a long drive for you guys." Tawny said. "Coming all the way here from Coolsville."

"Yes indeed." Velma nodded. "Two-three hours of driving sure can be physically taxing for Freddie."

"Like, Scoob and I will get our luggage." Shaggy quickly offered.

"Great idea, Shag." Daphne said.

"I'll show you all to your rooms." Tawny added.

As Shaggy and Scooby made their way to the rear door of the Mystery Machine, a flashlight was shined towards the duo.

"Oh no!" Someone screamed when Shaggy and Scooby were in the spotlight. "It's the ghost!"

"Rhost?" Scooby asked as he and Shaggy shared a look with each other in confusion. "Rere?"

"He's right here!" The source of the light exclaimed as the person holding the flashlight ran off. "The ghost of Dapper Jack Rogers?"

Shaggy and Scooby looked around, and other than the retreating figure with the flashlight running off into town, there was no one nearby.

"Like, that guy probably saw a ghost, Scoob." Shaggy said.

"Raybe." Scooby nodded.

A minute went by before the implications of their remarks drawn on them.

"A GHOST?!" They both exclaimed and Scooby quickly leaped into Shaggy's arms.

"Shaggy, Scooby, what's taking you guys?" Velma called out.

The duo shared another look with each other before Scooby got off Shaggy's arms.

"The sooner we get on with the luggage, Scoob, the sooner we can hit the sack." Shaggy said.

Scooby nodded in agreement before they proceeded to open the rear door of the Mystery Machine.

However, they didn't get to the luggage as a larger beam of light shined onto them.

"There you are, you nosy no-good ghost!" Another voice shouted, this one more authoritative. "You think you can hide from Sheriff Rafe Moore, the toughest sheriff in the country?"

"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as he and Scooby turned and faced the source of the light.

In front of them stood the sheriff, several deputies and a number of the sheriff's posse with the sheriff holding a rifle.

"Don't even think of finding a place to hide, because my nose is as good as a bloodhound's and can detect a diesel spill from a mile away, so raise 'em up!" The sheriff barked as he aimed his rifle at the duo.

"No, no!" A voice from the crowd suddenly shouted and Shaggy and Scooby can see someone struggling to get to the front of the crowd. "Wait!"

"Deputy Dusty, we don't have all evening!" Moore barked.

It was then that the person that was struggling through the crowd got to the front, joined moments later by a dog.

"Cousin Norville?" The man asked when he saw Shaggy and Scooby.

"Scoobert?" The dog accompanying the man asked.

"Cousin Daniel!" Shaggy exclaimed as he recognized his cousin.

"Rand Yippty-Yabbity-Doo!" Scooby added as he recognized his brother.

"Cousin Norville!" Dusty quickly said before turning to the sheriff and pulled the barrel of the rifle downwards. "He's not the ghost, sheriff. That was my visiting cousin and his dog you were aiming your rifle at."

"They are?" Moore asked before taking another look at Shaggy and Scooby. "Well, I'm certain the dog's innocent, but not the boy!"

"Wait!" Another voice shouted, and everyone turned and saw Fred and the girls walking over with Fred leading the way.

"He's not a ghost, sheriff!" Fred said as he stood in between Shaggy and the sheriff.

"He's our friend." Daphne said. "And besides, he wouldn't harm a person with a gun if that's what you're assuming, sheriff."

"He can't even shoot straight with a bow and arrow." Velma added with her hands on her hips.

The sheriff took another look at Shaggy before sighing and putting his rifle down.

"Alright, folks." He said. "False alarm. We didn't get the ghost behind the racket."

"What racket?" Fred asked.

"And what ghost are you talking about?" Velma added.

"Yeah, you certainly came close to turning me into one!" Shaggy said angrily as he pointed accusingly to the sheriff.

"Sorry." The sheriff said before he took a closer look at Shaggy and added, "You certainly look a lot like him."

"Who?" Shaggy asked.

"Jackson 'Dapper Jack' Rogers, a former U.S. Marshal who served as the first sheriff of Tumbleweed County." The sheriff replied.

At the remark, Dusty's eyes widened.

"Your ancestor?" Tawny asked.

"Yes indeed." Dusty nodded. "There has been rumours floating around that his ghost is haunting the town in the days leading up to the annual rodeo festival, but I thought the legend behind his vengeful spirit was only a legend."

"Tell that to Mr. Morrison." Moore said as he gestured towards the ranch hand. "He witnessed the Ghost of Dapper Jack Rogers shootin' at him and when he rushed over to my office and we went outside to check, Dapper Jack was shootin' out green flames and creating glowing 'J's, which are his trademark."

"Guys, it's getting late now." Tawny said. "Cousin Norville and his friends just arrived in town for a visit after a two, three-hour drive from Coolsville, so they must be very tired right now."

"And so are we, especially after being called over by the sheriff to do some ghost hunt." Dusty added.

"Sorry, how was I to know that the ghost wasn't goin' to stay in town for long?" Moore asked before shrugging and added, "Oh, whatever. I'm sure he'll return soon and when he does, we'll be ready."

* * *

Soon, the gang were settled in the ranch house.

"I'm terribly sorry about the welcoming committee, Cousin Norville." Dusty said to Shaggy as the gang unpacked their luggage. "I didn't expect the sheriff to be so into the legend of Dapper Jack Rogers."

"No worries, Daniel." Shaggy replied. "Though who's the Dapper Jack they speak of?"

"And what's this thing about the legend behind his vengeful spirit haunting the town?" Daphne added.

"We'll explain it to you guys tomorrow morning." Tawny quickly suggested as Scooby yawned. "I'm sure you guys are worn out by the long drive."

"Yeah." Yabba agreed. "Scoob looks like he's ready to hit the sack."

He then turned to his brother and added, "How about spending the night with me in Dusty's room, Scoob? I can protect you if the ghost does return."

"Rood idea, Yabba." Scooby nodded in agreement before yawning again.

"Anyways, let's head to bed now, guys." Fred said after a yawn. "Hopefully, the town is still in one piece when we wake up tomorrow morning."

* * *

Eventually, all the lights at the ranch house were turned off as the occupants settled in for the night.

However, no one was aware of a shadowed figure watching the house.

That shadowed figured then turned and revealed himself to be the ghost that attacked the town earlier, only now that his face is that of a glowing skull with red eyes.

* * *

 **Please read and review!**


	3. A close encounter

Chapter 3: A close encounter

Later that night, everyone was sleeping comfortably in their respective beds in the ranch house.

Unlike the rest of the gang, Shaggy and Scooby slept on the guest bed in Daniel's bedroom with Daniel, Tawny and Yabba occupying their regular bed while the others spent the night in the guest bedrooms.

However, Shaggy was having some trouble sleeping, as he couldn't stop thinking about the close-call earlier when the sheriff almost used his rifle on him.

It was then that they all heard an evil-sounding laughter from outside, and Shaggy was the first to sat up on his bed.

"Zoinks!" He exclaimed. "You heard that, Cousin Daniel?"

"I'm certain it's just the wind, Norville." Dusty reassured Shaggy. "Try to get some sleep."

Shaggy nodded thoughtfully, but before he could lay back down onto his bed, the laughter returned.

"Like, it must be very windy outside, Daniel." Shaggy said.

It was Tawny who saw something out the window and sat up on her shared bed with Dusty.

"Something's glowing outside!" She said as she pointed towards the window.

At the remark, Dusty and Shaggy both got off their beds and walked over to the window to take a look, the former grabbing his glasses as he went.

When they arrived at the window, the cousins saw glowing green "J"s on the nearby barn and a shadowed figure appearing to shooting green flames and creating those glowing green "J"s.

"That must be the culprit behind the mess in town earlier that the sheriff called us up for!" Dusty exclaimed when they saw the glowing green Js on the barn.

"And he's shooting at the barn!" Shaggy exclaimed.

"Then we should stop him before he causes more damage to the barn! Yabba added as he and Scooby joined them at the window.

As Dusty and Yabba rushed out of the room, Shaggy and Scooby shared a look with each other before rushing to join them.

Also joining them were Fred and the girls, who were awaken by the noise and commotion.

"Now may be a good chance to see if we can put our ranching skills to good use!" Fred said as he prepared a lasso on his way out.

"Hopefully, you haven't forgotten how to use the lasso, Freddie." Daphne said.

* * *

Soon, the group were gathered outside near the barn, and it was clear that Yabba and Dusty's efforts to stop the Ghost were futile.

"You guys shouldn't be charging in with both arms swinging like that." Velma said as Yabba managed to dive himself into a tub of water as a result of his tail catching fire in the encounter.

"I know, we just realized." Dusty nodded.

"Can't you use your gun to scare the Ghost away?" Daphne asked.

"Not when he's armed with two pistols." Dusty said. "And only if I've got any bullets."

"Well, it's a good time to find out on that!" Velma rolled her eyes.

"What should we do, Fred?" Shaggy asked as they watched Yabba cooled himself off.

"Watch this!" Fred said as he prepared the lasso and made his attempt to get it ready and thrown onto the Ghost, intending to have it tie the Ghost up.

However, Fred lost control of the lasso as he swung it in the air, causing the rope to end up spinning around and tangle him up.

"Woah!" Fred exclaimed as he found himself tangled up by the lasso before collapsing onto the ground.

His exclamation attracted the attention of the Ghost, who turned towards the assembled gang.

As Fred struggled to get up to no avail, he added, "My lasso skills are rusty."

"A nice time for us to find out on that!" Dusty said.

His remark was cut short as they saw the Ghost walking towards them menacingly, laughing like a maniac as he approached them.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as Scooby leaped into his arms in fright.

"Jinkies!" Velma exclaimed.

"Jeepers!" Daphne added as she covered her mouth in shock.

The Ghost certainly looked like Shaggy, only with longer hair, a beard and the hair colour is in a darker shade of brown.

What shocked the group was the sight of the Ghost's face turning into that of a living skeleton with glowing red eyes, as if the Ghost was cursed to be the living dead with the full moon revealing his full skeleton.

The Ghost growled at the group menacingly, his hands on his pistols as he approached them.

"I'll fetch the sheriff." Dusty said. "Yabba, you come with me."

"Right." Yabba nodded.

"And let's get out of here before this ghost tries to subject us to a barbecue!" Shaggy added as the Ghost closely approaches them.

"Good thinking, Shag." Daphne said as they quickly took off running, Shaggy and Scooby running off in one direction, Daphne and Velma picking up Fred and running off in the other.

The Ghost, upon seeing Shaggy and Scooby retreating into the ranch house, immediately gave chase to the duo.

Seeing the Ghost chasing after him and Scooby, Shaggy shouted, "Like, why is it that all these spooks we've encountered over the years comes after us, Scoob?"

"Ri don't rnow, rough he roes rook like rou." Scooby said.

"Oh yeah?" Shaggy asked as he looked at the Ghost's glowing skeleton. "If I do look like him, why is he chasing us, Scoob?"

"Ri don't know, Raggy." Scooby said as they continued running. "Ri don't know!"

A short while later, the Ghost has chased the duo into the living room.

When the Ghost arrived at the living room, Shaggy and Scooby were nowhere to be seen.

Looking around, he entered the living room and growled.

On the other side of the living room stood a life-size statue who looked just exactly like Shaggy, only that he had a thicker beard and is completely dressed like a settler in the American frontier in the 19th century.

The "statue" in question is, indeed, Shaggy, and he stood as rigid as a pile of lumber, not moving.

The neutral look on his face certainly betrayed his nervousness and fear, and as the Ghost looked away, Shaggy looked around, only rolling his eyes and using his peripheral vision to look around.

He saw the Ghost catching sight of a moose trophy mounted on the wall adjacent to him, except that the "moose" on the trophy wasn't really a moose at all.

The "moose" in question was, in fact, Scooby in disguise. He was wearing a pair of tree branches that were meant to be antlers of the moose.

The Ghost took a closer look at Scooby, not making a move, and the longer it took, the more nervous Scooby was, though he continued to hold still and not make a move.

After what seemed like eternity, the Ghost turned and walked away, and Scooby sighed in relief.

The relief was short-lived, though. As he sighed in relief, Scooby accidentally inhaled some of the accumulated dust on the plaque, causing his nose to act up.

"Ah-ah-ah..." Scooby began and he quickly reached for his nose with his paw, almost immediately covering his nose and it began calming down.

Just as Scooby and Shaggy both thought of sighing in relief, Scooby's nose started acting up again.

"Ah-ah-aH...CHOO!" Scooby exclaimed as he sneezed.

The loud sneeze caught the Ghost's attention, and he immediately returned to the room.

Seeing the Ghost, Shaggy turned to Scooby.

"Like, you blew it, Scooby-Doo." Shaggy said as he discarded his disguise.

"Ri know, Raggy." Scooby nodded. "Ri know."

The duo then resumed running around the room, chased by the Ghost, who then chased them out of the room and around the main floor of the house.

Soon, the duo lost the Ghost and shared a look with each other at their hiding place.

"I think we've lost him, Scoob." Shaggy said.

Scooby nodded as Shaggy walked down the hallway, intending to check on Tawny, who was trying to untangle the lasso that has tangled up Fred upstairs.

However, as Shaggy walked past the door frame separating the hallway from the living room, he caught a glance of the Ghost walking past the door frame in the same time.

Their movements were almost identical, and upon reaching the other side of the door frame, Shaggy paused and pirouetted backwards.

Upon reaching the doorframe, Shaggy found himself face-to-face with the Ghost, where the two did a series of gestures and movements that were identical, as if the door frame was a mirror.

Scooby looked on as both scratched their beards, pausing to think as they looked at each other through the door frame.

Then, Shaggy reached towards the Ghost and yanked its beard, causing the Ghost to growl in anger.

"Yah!" Shaggy exclaimed, and he quickly ran off before the Ghost could grab him.

"Gangway!" Shaggy shouted as Scooby joined him in the run.

No sooner did the duo enter the kitchen and lost the Ghost did Daphne and Velma emerged from the stairs, hoping to check on Shaggy and Scooby.

When the Ghost find that Shaggy and Scooby were nowhere to be seen in the dark kitchen, he turned and saw the girls walking by and growled.

Spooked by the growl, Daphne and Velma turned and saw the Ghost walking towards them menacingly, growling as he went.

Without hesitation, they quickly ran off and the Ghost give chase.

It didn't take long before the Ghost chased Daphne and Velma into the living room, where he managed to corner the girls near the window.

Shaggy and Scooby were walking by the living room when they saw the girls in trouble, and they quickly acted.

As the Ghost marched towards Daphne and Velma menacingly, Shaggy and Scooby sneaked towards him, both armed with a metal stick with a hook.

Before the duo could use the stick on the Ghost, it became hooked onto the rotating ceiling fan in the living room, causing them to get hooked up and started rotating along with the fan.

"Woah!" Shaggy exclaimed as he and Scooby continued rotating.

The Ghost paused and turned to his back, just as Scooby's letting go of Shaggy while the fan was still in motion caused the Great Dane to fly over and collide with him.

The collision also caused the Ghost to crash through the nearby window and ended up landing on the ground.

Seeing everything unfolding, Daphne and Velma rushed to Scooby.

"Scooby, are you alright?" Velma quickly asked.

"Ri'm fine." Scooby said, "Rough I'm not rure about Raggy."

Daphne and Velma turned towards where Scooby was looking at, where it was becoming apparent that Shaggy was getting dizzy from his constant rotating.

Without missing a beat, Daphne rushed over to the nearby light switch and flicked it off, leading the fan and Shaggy to slow down.

Once Shaggy and the fan came to a complete stop, Daphne rushed over to check on him.

"Are you alright, Shag?" She asked as she quickly supported him.

"Did someone got the license number of that ceiling fan?" Shaggy asked.

Daphne and Velma shared a look with each other.

"He sounds alright to me." Velma said. "Though we better check on the ghost."

* * *

As quick as foxes, the four arrived at where the Ghost had landed, only to find that he was nowhere to be seen.

"That's funny." Shaggy said. "Like, he was here a minute ago but now he's vanished!"

"Did we miss anything?" Another voice asked, and the four turned and saw Dusty arriving, together with Yabba, the sheriff and a couple of deputies.

"You guys just missed the Ghost." Daphne said.

"Oh, darn it!" Moore said in annoyance, and the others can tell he clearly wanted to use the rifle he was carrying. "Oh well, he'll be back."

"Anyways, cuz." Shaggy said as he walked to Dusty. "What's this legend behind Dapper Jack Rogers?"

"You said that you were going to save the legend for tomorrow, Dusty." Velma said as Tawny and Fred joined them. "But after that close encounter, I really think we should know more about Dapper Jack before coming up with our next moves tomorrow."

"Good idea." Dusty nodded. "Be prepared for a long story, everyone."

* * *

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	4. The story of Dapper Jack Rogers

**Author's Note: The story behind Dapper Jack Rogers is partially based on the 1970 John Wayne film _Rio Lobo_.**

* * *

Chapter 4: The story of Dapper Jack Rogers

 _May 14, 1864_

That morning, Lieutenant Colonel Jackson "Dapper Jack" Rogers of the XXIII Corps, Union Army, stood anxiously in the railroad station located in the town of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

His waiting at the railroad station came as his friend, First Lieutenant Gilbert West, leads a squad of Union soldiers to accompany a Union payload train departing from Fort Henry in Tennessee.

What made Dapper Jack anxious is that while the rail line passes through territory firmly under Union control (In fact, that territory has already been firmly under Union control since two years prior in 1862), there could still be patches of Confederate sympathizers and Confederate-friendly militias in the areas along the rail line who'll only be too happy to sabotage operations or hijack the payroll train.

At that moment, he had received word that the train has passed through the state line junction and is chugging along the rail line, en route to Russellville Junction.

"Train's left the state line junction, sir." First Lieutenant Mark Sandez reported. "Once the train's arrived, there's nothing much for us to worry about."

At the remark, Dapper Jack turned to him.

"Well, the train hasn't arrived yet, Lieutenant." Dapper Jack said.

"I know, sir." Sandez said. "But..."

Before he could continue, Dapper Jack cut in and asked, "So you mind if I worry?"

Seeing the stern look on the colonel's face, Sandez paused before shaking his head. "No, sir."

As Dapper Jack resumed pacing back and forth, Sandez swallowed before asking, "Mind if I ask you something, sir?"

"Go ahead." Dapper Jack nodded.

"Is it because you think the rail line section between the state line and Russellville Junction is among the most dangerous sections of the route that you've given Lieutenant West the payroll mission?" Sandez asked.

"That's one of the reasons." Dapper Jack nodded again.

"Right." Sandez nodded thoughtfully. "He's been with you for quite a while, eh?"

"Since the war started." Dapper Jack replied.

"Yes, sir." Sandez nodded again and then left Dapper Jack to his pacing back and forth.

Thinking about the war, Dapper Jack shook his head when it reminded him of his dear brother Beauregard, who turned his back against the Union and opted to fight for the Confederacy when the war broke out in 1861.

The war has sure torn the country apart, not to mention ruining many families as families became torn apart and joined opposing sides.

Dapper Jack was taken out of his thoughts when a young major rushed to him from the station's telegraph office.

"Colonel!" The major barked as he rushed to Dapper Jack. "The line's dead between the state line junction and Russellville Junction, sir!"

At that message, Dapper Jack paused and turned to the major.

"D*mn!" He exclaimed before turning to the major and added, "Get the regiment assembled! We're heading down the rail line."

"Yes, sir!" The major nodded and signaled the regiment's bigal corporal, who immediately got his bugle ready and started playing notes, signally the entire regiment to assemble.

"Companies A and B, you all come with me and follow the line." Dapper Jack ordered as the regiment assembled. "Everyone else, stay behind and continue guarding the station against any potential sneak attacks by the rebels!"

"Yes, sir!" One of the men shouted, and the soldiers in the first two companies followed Dapper Jack's lead and got on their horses before proceeding to take off down the rail line.

As things turned out, the payroll train was ambushed by a company of Confederate soldiers, who acted after receiving word on the status of the payroll train - through listening in to the telegraph communications between Fort Henry and Bowling Green.

Upon learning about the trains departure and eventual passing through the state line junction, the first Confederate squad, posted in the wooded hilly area near the tracks and closer to the Russellville Junction, moved to grease the tracks with one soldier continuing to listen into the telegraph wires and another two soldiers preparing a hornets nest.

The first squad only acted once they received word from the second squad, posted closer to the state line junction, that the Union payroll train has passed by them.

Once the train became stuck as a result of the lack of traction between the wheels and the greased tracks, the first squad, who had hidden in the nearby woods prior to the train's climbing up the hill, moved to hijack the train and jumped the engineer and fireman.

While that was happening, the rest of the first squad moved to get the hornets nest into the caboose, where the Union soldiers are holed up with the payroll.

The enraged insects were proven to be a hassle for the Union soldiers, and the waiting Confederate soldiers moved quick to dispatch the Union soldiers that attempted to intervene or get off the car.

With the stage set and the locomotive disabled, the cars were detached from the locomotive and the Confederate squad moved quick to get on the cars as they begin rolling down the tracks, but not before pulling the telegraph wire down to impede communications.

As the train rolled down the tracks, the Union soldiers bailed by jumping off the moving cars, eventually leaving the payroll in the hands of the Confederate soldiers.

Eventually, the runaway cars came to a complete stop upon hitting several obstacles on the tracks. Obstacles that were set up by the second squad in a way so that the runaway cars will come to a complete stop without derailing.

Anyways, as things turned out, West, who was the last to jump off the runaway car, was fatally injured when he rolled down the hill and broke his neck in the process.

Dapper Jack was devastated by the death of his friend, who, in his last breath, suggested that the only way the rebels could've pull an elaborate scheme is if they were supplied with information coming from the Union.

After checking on West, Dapper Jack was ready to return to his horse and carry on with the manhunt when West asked for one more thing.

"Colonel..." West asked hoarsely.

"Yeah?" Dapper Jack asked as he turned to face his friend one last time.

"Catch 'em...will ya?" West asked.

Dapper Jack paused before nodding once more.

"I sure as h*ll will." He promised.

After leaving his friend, to be buried, Dapper Jack carried out for the search for the Confederates that pulled the scheme, hoping that they will provide information on the traitor that provided them the intelligence in the first place.

It didn't take long before he managed to capture the company commander, Confederate Captain Dalton Hopper, and Confederate First Sergeant Felix Irving, who eventually conferred that they did receive information from a source from the Union side but don't know who that source is.

* * *

 _August 23, 1865_

After the war ended, Dapper Jack met up with his brother Beauregard, together with the discharged Hopper and Irving, and pressed them for more information on the traitor.

However, other than physical descriptions of the traitors that supplied the intelligence, the discharged Confederates weren't able to offer anything else to Dapper Jack and his brother.

Dapper Jack, in a letter to Beauregard a year earlier, confided about West's death as a result of a traitor selling information to the Confederates, and even though Beauregard remained loyal to the Confederates until the end of the war, he was disgusted by the news and offered to help his brother find the traitor.

And while their first encounter during the war was a hostile one, Dapper Jack and the two Confederates developed a deep respect to one another over the course of the remainder of the war.

Both Irving and Hopper offered their condolences to Dapper Jack, and upon Dapper Jack's departure to his old job as a marshal posted in Ohio, were instructed to contact him or Beauregard should they came upon the men that gave them the information.

* * *

 _April 24, 1866_

Some time later, Dapper Jack was staying in Lancaster, Nebraska Territory as he was in the process of tracking down an outlaw who was wanted by authorities for pulling a bank heist in Ohio.

It was during this time that he ran into Hopper, who was staying in the town hotel and informed him of Irving's troubles and its relation to the case.

As things turned out, Irving and his family had moved into the county seat of the newly-incorporated Tumbleweed County in California.

However, the town, whose townsfolk are mainly ranchers, was ransacked by a gang which consisted of a posse dispatched by the corrupt sheriff of a nearby county.

The gang had claimed that they were in the search for an outlaw that was believed to be hiding in town, except that once they settled down, the gang has terrorized the townsfolk and proceeded to run the town as their own, forcing the townsfolk to pay for protection and elect one of the posse members as sheriff.

A kicker is that the "outlaw" the gang was searching for was wanted by that corrupt sheriff under trumped up charges, and the posse, as punishment to the townsfolk for providing a safe haven to the man that was a notable critic of the corrupt sheriff, proceeded to gun down the town's incumbent first sheriff and terrorize the town.

And the kicker that alerted Dapper Jack was that one of the posse members was Walt LaPierre, who Irving had identified as one of the two traitors Dapper Jack was searching for.

With Irving imprisoned under trumped up charges, Dapper Jack, joined by Hopper and a group of posse members the local sheriff, who's an old friend of Dapper Jack's, has raised, made their move to Tumbleweed County.

Along the way, near the border with Colorado Territory, the group encountered a Great Dane who was badly injured and left to the side to die.

Initially, it was believed that the local band of natives were responsible for attacking the unfortunate dog, but one of the posse members, who is an Omaha, told them that the tribe who resides in the area will never do such a thing.

The group, upon close examination of the Great Dane, later concluded that the posse that has taken over Tumbleweed County, were responsible for the brutal treatment of the dog.

"Likely the dog had a sixth sense that detected that the gang was up to no good and that one of the men was a traitor." Dapper Jack surmised.

"Sounds reasonable." Hopper nodded. "That could only mean one thing."

"That's right." The leader of the posse accompanying them, whose name is Ted Percy, nodded. "Let's go!"

* * *

The Great Dane recovered well under their care, and it was during this time that the group decided to name him Atlas for his strength.

And, as things turned out, Atlas is capable of speech.

"Whoever did this must've think your speech is the result of witchcraft." Percy remarked. "D*mn, stupid, superstitious cowards."

"No argument from me." Atlas nodded. "Those cowards ain't gonna see me coming."

* * *

 _November 12, 1868_

Months went by since Dapper Jack and company arrived in Tumbleweed County and dispatched the gang that terrorized the townsfolk, including the corrupt sheriff.

During this time, Dapper Jack figured out that the leader of the gang that took over the town was none other than Union Quartermaster Sergeant Arthur Scheer, who is the second of the two traitors that sold out the information that led to West's death during the war.

Their taking down of Scheer's gang involved several gunfights, the rescue of Irving and the rallying of the townspeople.

Eventually, as Scheer was on the eve of losing, he attempted to turn the tables on Dapper Jack and company by using the last remaining bullet in his rifle on Dapper Jack.

However, before he could pull the trigger, Scheer got ambushed by Dapper Jack's love interest, Cindy McKenna, whose brother was among the townsfolk that had lost their lives while trying to turn the tide against Scheer's men.

Having had promised to kill Scheer herself, McKenna did as she had vowed when she caught Scheer and took him down before he could finish the dirty deed.

Many of the townsfolk were grateful for what Dapper Jack and company had done and at their request, Dapper Jack decides to settle down in town, whereupon he was unanimously elected as sheriff.

Once he settled down, Dapper Jack formally adopted Atlas and married Cindy McKenna, who then gave birth to six children.

* * *

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	5. Bedtime and breakfast

Chapter 5: Bedtime and breakfast

"So what happened next?" Fred asked after Dusty summarized how Dapper Jack came to arrive in Tumbleweed.

"Well, one day Sheriff Dapper Jack received word of a notorious outlaw heading the way of Tumbleweed." Dusty continued. "This notorious outlaw, whose name was Don Ford, was wanted for cattle-rustling and is very dangerous, so the sheriff raised a posse and personally lead the group to track down the outlaw."

"However, the area they were searching the outlaw for was huge, and they ended up splitting up into smaller groups." Tawny said.

"Indeed." Dusty nodded. "Eventually, it was just Dapper Jack and Deputy Rufus Carmichael searching the grounds near a cliff, and then it happened."

"What happened?" Velma asked.

"That is something beyond speculation for the townsfolk." Dusty said. "Deputy Carmichael said that they encountered Ford and there was a struggle near the cliff. When the others reached the site, there were three sets of footprints that went out onto the dead end sandy dirt path and only one returning, that one being from Carmichael."

"As in...?" Daphne began, and Dusty nodded.

"Exactly." He nodded. "There were signs of a violent struggle near the cliff and only one set of returning footprints, that belonging to Carmichael. Thus, it was determined that Dapper Jack and Ford met their demise at the cliff while locked in mortal combat."

"Zoinks!" Shaggy remarked. "If Dapper Jack did die fighting for justice while fighting the outlaw, why is his ghost haunting the town and seaking revenge?"

"Beats me." Dusty shrugged. "However, one thing to note is that there were rumours that Carmichael may have played a role into arranging Dapper Jack's demise."

"What of them?" Fred raised an eyebrow.

"Because after Dapper Jack's untimely demise, Carmichael was elected sheriff by the townsfolk, but the town started to go downhill from there." Dusty explained. "Once he became sheriff, Carmichael was more concerned about the fact that he's the sheriff instead of carrying out his responsibilities as sheriff. His competence as sheriff was poor, unlike Dapper Jack, who was dearly admired and loved by many in town in spite of his unorthodox methods of catching criminals and enforcing the law in town, and as Carmichael carried on with his tenure as sheriff, he was able to spend more than what a sheriff will normally earn in the day."

"You mean he was accepting money from crooks to look the other way?" Velma asked.

"That sort of thing." Dusty nodded. "With the town ransacked with cattle-rustlers, many in town moved out, including Dapper Jack's immediate family. Anyways, Carmichael's incompetence as sheriff has resulted in the rumours of his arranging Dapper Jack's untimely demise whispering around."

"Rumours that turned into the legend of his ghost seeking revenge." Daphne said.

"Exactly." Dusty nodded again. "Legend has it that people have been spotting Dapper Jack riding off into the sunset to track down Ford, never to return."

"But I'll bet that this Ghost of Dapper Jack isn't in a rush in riding off into the sunset to track down Ford." Velma pointed out. "He managed to return, contrary to the legend behind his ghost, not to mention that he attacked the town and almost got us."

"His attacking the town may have to do with him astonishing the townsfolk for electing Carmichael as his successor as sheriff." Moore offered. "Though you kids are right about his attacking you kids not making any sense with regards to the legend behind his ghost."

"In any way, gang." Fred said as he turned to the gang. "It looks like we've got another mystery on our hands, and this one involves one of our own."

"And just as I was looking forward to the relaxing ranch life and the upcoming rodeo festival." Shaggy sighed.

"Don't worry, Shag." Velma said. "I'm sure the ghost won't harm a hair of a blood relative."

"Yeah, sure." Shaggy rolled his eyes. "Tell that to the ghost, who was chasing us earlier and almost hurt you and Daphne."

"Anyways, gang." Fred said as he yawned. "We should all get some sleep right now if we want to get to the bottom of this case tomorrow."

"Good idea, Freddie." Daphne said. "After all that running around, I'm sure none of us will have the energy to get on with the case."

Soon, as everyone got ready for bed, Daphne and Velma noticed Shaggy and Scooby wearing pots on their heads and armed with baseball bats.

"Shaggy, Scooby, what are you guys doing?" Daphne asked.

"Scoob and I will take the first watch." Shaggy replied. "In case the Ghost decides to return and cause more trouble."

"Suit yourselves." Dusty said as he and Yabba turned in for the night.

* * *

 _July 23, 1971_

The next morning, when Dusty, Yabba, Tawny, Fred, Velma and Daphne woke up and headed down for breakfast, they found Shaggy and Scooby snoozing away.

"How do you like it?" Velma asked. "To think these pair of clowns were supposed to be protecting us from the ghost."

Fred and Daphne shared a look with each other before the former walked over to a sleeping Shaggy and placed his hand on his shoulder.

Shaggy almost immediately jumped in fright when Fred placed his hand on his shoulder, and he landed right on Scooby and woke him up as a result.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as he landed on Scooby.

As Scooby woke up in fright, he exclaimed, "Ripe! Re ghost!"

"Relax, you two." Velma quickly said. "That was only Fred."

Shaggy and Scooby turned and looked, seeing Fred standing beside them close by and they both relaxed.

"Oh, right." Shaggy said as he got off Scooby and brushed himself. "I knew that, like I always do."

At the remark, Velma simply rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"I'm sure you do." She said.

"Now that we're all up, maybe we should get started in facing the task at hand." Dusty said.

"You mean getting to the bottom of the case of the ghost, right?" Fred asked.

"Exactly." Dusty nodded.

At the remark, Shaggy and Scooby slumped.

"Like, you guys go ahead." Shaggy said. "Scoob and I didn't sleep much last night, so we're going to catch a few winks."

At the remark, Fred and the girls shared a look with each other, and Velma turned to Tawny.

"Anyways, are you guys ready for..." Tawny was about to say when Shaggy and Scooby's ears perked up at what she was about to say.

The duo immediately turned to each other before started chanting, "Breakfast! Breakfast! Breakfast!"

Before you know it, the duo rushed out of the house with Shaggy exclaiming, "Ye-haw!"

Watching the duo rushing out of the house, Tawny turned to the gang.

"I've been acquainted with Cousin Norville for several months now, and I still don't understand how he and Scooby knew I was going to say that word." She said.

"When it comes to food, those two can be pretty psychic." Velma said.

"We'd better get moving before those two starves the whole town." Fred suggested.

* * *

As things turned out, there was plenty of food prepared by the chef of the town's restaurant and certainly looked like they can feed a population of the whole of Hawaii in anticipation of the tourist surge to town as a result of the annual rodeo festival.

However, much to the chef's dismay, the picnic area was pretty much deserted, saving for a handful of townsfolk and a few tourists who didn't left town after the Ghost of Dapper Jack's rampage the night before.

"Look at this waste of food." Rafe said to the chef. "And to think we were expecting a surge of tourists staying in town for tomorrow's rodeo fest."

"I suppose the Ghost of Dapper Jack scared them away, sheriff." The chef said to Rafe. "But what do you expect me to do with all the food I prepared? There's no way I'll be breaking blood and sweat preparing all of this, only for the food to end up going to waste."

As the chef and Rafe were speaking, Shaggy and Scooby were filling up their plates with the food on the main tables.

"Well, you could always refrigerate the leftovers for tomorrow." Rafe suggested before he and the chef turned towards the main tables, only to be greeted by a shocking sight!

All the serving dishes were pretty empty, and barely a minute ago the dishes were still filled.

"Like, that was delicious." Shaggy said, and the chef and Rafe turned towards the picnic table seated by Fred, Shaggy, Scooby, Yabba and Dusty.

"Deputy Dusty." Rafe said as he walked towards Dusty. Watching Scooby and Yabba licking their paws, he then added, "Maybe you ought to train your dog more."

"It's not the dogs that needed to be trained, sheriff." Fred spoke before Dusty could respond.

"Oh?" Rafe arched his eyebrows.

"Shag's the one that should be trained when it comes to food." Fred said as he gestured towards Shaggy, which was polishing off his plate. "He and the dogs got all the food on the main serving table before I could even get a crumb."

"Well, Fred, you know how Cousin Norville is when it comes to food." Dusty spoke.

"Yeah." Shaggy nodded. "Like, you wanna eat, you gotta get to the dining room fast before Scoob and I get there."

Rafe turned and shared a look with the chef and shrugged.

"Looks like you're gonna have to whip up another stack of food." Rafe said.

"For these guests, sure." The chef replied nonchalantly.

It was then that Shaggy finished polishing off his plate and asked, "That was really good cooking. Mind if we have seconds?"

"Reah." Scooby nodded as he and his brother licked their lips.

"Actually, can you double that?" Rafe asked the chef.

Seeing Shaggy and the Doos, the chef sighed.

"I'll see what I can do." He said.

As the chef turned and left, Tawny, Velma and Daphne walked over to the boys' table.

"If there's one good thing about having those three at the table, it's that we don't have to worry about throwing away excess food waste." Tawny remarked.

"Good point." Daphne nodded as they each took a seat.

As the group continued with their breakfast, a family of four sat at the neighbouring picnic table.

"Howdy there." The patriarch of the family greeted the boys as they each took their seats.

Fred paused from his eating and turned, facing a middle-aged man with blond hair and wearing a pair of black-framed glasses.

"Uh...hello." Fred said as Shaggy and Scooby looked on. "You guys...uh...enjoying the stay in town?"

"We sure are." The man smiled. "Even the scare last night hasn't really dampened our spirits."

"Dad." The man's daughter sighed. "I just don't get why do we have to spend our weekend here in the middle of nowhere..."

"Oh, pardon Deborah's manners." The family matriarch said to the group, looking at Dusty, Tawny and Yabba. "She's in a bad mood, because we have to come to Tumbleweed for its annual rodeo festival, where our son William will be performing in a concert during the festival, instead of visiting family over in Texas."

"This place is so boring!" Deborah moaned. "At least at Cousin Gibby's place, he gets to show us some of the latest tech gadgets he has built and tell us more about the science fairs he has attended over the years."

"Cousin Gibby's stories does get boring, Debbie." William rolled his eyes.

"Coming from someone who's afraid of getting too close to horses." Deborah retorted. "Honestly, Billy, you really need to relax and calm down. Horses won't hurt you."

"It's easier for you to say that, because you weren't the one who almost got trampled by a stampede of horses at Cousin Gibby's place last summer!" Billy argued.

At the remark, the group of eight paused from their eating and shared a look with each other.

"And besides, you do realize that Cousin Gibby's allergic to horses, right?" Billy added.

"Yet he still lives in the ranch." Deborah rolled her eyes. "And-"

"Okay, enough of the arguing, you two." Their father cut in before turning to the group and added, "Anyways, I believe we should introduce ourselves. I'm Andrew Gunderson, owner of Gunderson Tanning Salon and Lawn Mower Repair."

Motioning to his family, he added, "And this is my lovely family."

"Hello, everyone." The matriarch waved her hand at the group with a smile. "I'm Margaret, though you all can call me 'Midge'."

"Like, you've got the same first name as my sister Margaret, though most of us call her 'Maggie'." Shaggy paused from his eating as he made the remark.

"Ah, I see." Midge nodded before gesturing to the two children and continued, "And this is our daughter Deborah and our son William, though he prefers to be called Billy."

"Mainly because he's gained the nickname 'Buffalo Billy' from his singing and performances at country festivals across the town." Deborah added.

"Wow." Dusty remarked before he walked over to the Gundersons and offered his hand. "Anyways, welcome to Tumbleweed, Gundersons. I'm Deputy Daniel Rogers of the local sheriff's office, and I hope you folks are enjoying your stay."

"I hope this place is more to offer besides the rodeo festival tomorrow." Deborah groaned. "Because I swear this place is complete Dullsville."

Before anyone could say something, they all heard what sounded like plates crashing onto the ground.

Everyone shared a look with each other.

"What was that racket?" Tawny asked.

"It came from the lodge house across the street." Dusty said, pointing at the lodge house as he spoke. "Let's go!"

Immediately, everyone dropped what they were doing and followed Dusty across the street to the lodge house.

Shaggy dropped his eating as he joined everyone in the rush, and Scooby, upon seeing Shaggy's unfinished food on the plates, swooped in and finished the food before joining everyone in the rush.

* * *

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	6. A broken window and the For Sale sign

Chapter 6: A broken window and the "For Sale" sign

No sooner the group entered the lodge house did they found the source of the crash.

As Dusty surveyed the scene in front of him, noticing a piece of what used to be a larger piece of glass barely hanging onto the window frame, he came to be face-to-face with two young women that appeared to be in their late-teens and early 20s.

The lady wearing a pink shirt and a light blue vest was partially covered in what powder, and she looked on sheepishly as Dusty entered the kitchen.

"Uh...what just happened here?" Dusty asked the two women.

The lady wearing a yellow shirt and a pair of jeans and appeared to be more bulky than the woman she was accompanying, was the first to respond.

"Well, my sister Carol and I were here helping Chef Williams' get some more cooking ingredients when, well, we decided to play a game of catch after I found the large bag of flour he needed for the cake." She said.

"And then, Sharon decided to toss the bag to me, given that I was the closest to the doorway, and...er...somehow, the bag bounced off my hands and..." Carol said before pausing and gestured towards the broken window and added, "...and this is what happened next."

No sooner Carol finished did that loose piece of glass became detached from the window frame and crashed onto the floor.

There was some silence before the sisters burst out laughing while Dusty turned and faced the others, who were gathered at the doorway.

"Wait, this is where the chef is staying at for the festival?" Tawny asked the sisters and Dusty.

"Yes." Dusty nodded. "Boy, I'm sure Chef Williams is not going to be-"

"What the blazes is going on here?!" A voice boomed from outside, and everyone paused and turned.

The voice came from the chef, and everyone looked on as he marched into the lodge house and straight into the kitchen.

"Uh...hi Chef Williams." Dusty said as the chef made his way into the kitchen.

The minute the chef saw the broken window, his eyes settled on the sisters.

Another minute went by as the chef drew his hand over his face and took a deep breath. Then, he looked at the sisters once again.

"Do I need to ask what exactly happened here?" Williams asked the sisters.

"Uh..." Sharon and Carol shared a look with each other before the former quickly said, "We'll clean this mess up, Chef Williams."

There was another pause before the chef shook his head.

"Actually...I think I can manage this mess myself." He said. "You sisters can return to what you were doing earlier."

"Okay, then." Carol nodded. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." The chef replied as the sisters darted out of the kitchen.

By that point, the Gundersons have exited the lodge house, leaving the gang, Dusty, Tawny and Yabba with the chef as the latter once again sighed.

"Sisters gave you trouble, chef?" Tawny asked as Williams surveyed the mess.

"You can say that." Williams replied. "In fact, who knows what kind of mess they'll end up leaving behind while trying to clean up this mess."

"This isn't the first time they've done something like this, chef?" Daphne asked as the gang all raised their eyebrows.

"Yeah." Williams nodded. "You should've seen them yesterday afternoon trying to shoe a horse. They almost caused a stampede."

When the gang looked at each other with confused looks on their faces, Yabba added, "Just picture Laurel and Hardy at a ranch trying to shoe a horse."

There was some chuckle at Yabba's latest remark from the gang before Fred said, "Would you like us to help you out, chef?"

"Sure." Williams shrugged.

* * *

A short while later, the group were back at picnic area.

With Dusty and Yabba off to work, that leaves Tawny with the gang.

"So how long have you guys been living in Tumbleweed County, Tawny?" Fred asked.

"Since Daniel graduated from college and was sworn in as a deputy last year." Tawny replied with her hands on her hips. "It's quite the relaxing place to live, far from the bustling and busy city life."

"I'll say." Daphne nodded as she looked around.

As they stood around, some of them seated on the picnic table seats, Scooby did some sniffing around.

His sniffing around soon lead him to the entrance of the nearby ranch, where he then heard someone bumping into something.

"Ruh?" He asked as he looked up, in time to see an old farmer carrying a saddle who just walked into a telephone pole and had fumbled backwards.

The farmer, hearing Scooby's remark, turned towards him and saw what he thought was the faint outline of a pony.

"Ah, there you are, little pony." The old farmer said as he walked towards Scooby.

Shaggy, who was watching Scooby as he relaxed, walked over when he saw the farmer and heard the remark.

"Like, Scoob isn't a pony, sir." He said to the farmer.

"Huh?" The farmer stopped and turned towards Shaggy. "What do you mean, talking tree?"

"Uh..." Shaggy stammered awkwardly as the old man walked towards him. "Are you..."

"Oh, sorry." The old farmer said when he got a closer look at Shaggy. "I've lost my dang glasses, in case you're wonderin'."

"I noticed." Shaggy said. "Maybe you need help?"

"No need." The old farmer shook his head. "Old Man Zeke knows this place as much as he knows his name, so there ain't a need for me to find help gettin' around here, I reckon."

"If you say so." Fred said as he joined in. "Though I'm sure you won't mind us helping so you won't end up bumping into a tree or a telephone pole."

"Fine by me." Old Man Zeke replied as Tawny joined them.

"I'll help you out, Mr. Larrison." She said as she took Zeke's arm.

"Ah, there you are, Tawny." Zeke said when he recognized her voice. "How's Daniel and his talkin' dog holdin' up in town?"

"They're alright, Mr. Larrison." Tawny replied. "And you, sir?"

"I'm doing alright, child." Zeke said as Tawny guided him to his home. "Only problem is that my eyesight ain't as good as it used to be and I lost me glasses last night."

"That's too bad." Tawny said. "Perhaps I should help you find your glasses, Mr. Larrison."

"That'll be greatly appreciated, dear child." Zeke nodded.

As Tawny lead the old farmer back to his house, the girls joined up with the guys.

"Wow, it's a miracle that Mr. Larrison can still find his way around town without his glasses." Daphne remarked.

"Tell me about it." Velma deadpanned as she took off her glasses to wipe the lenses. "I can even barely see a thing without mine."

"Anyways, so what's next, Fred?" Daphne asked as she turned to Fred.

"First, we should go change." Fred suggested before gesturing towards Shaggy and added, "I don't think Shag wants to feel like he's the only one in the gang that's being into the mood of the trip."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you guys have packed up cowboy outfits for the trip." Daphne said.

"Anyways, after changing our clothes, what do we do, Freddie?" Velma asked as her face flushed, a change in expression which Daphne caught onto.

"We split up and walk around town, asking the locals if they know anything specific about the legend behind the Ghost of Dapper Jack." Fred said.

"Sounds like a plan." Velma nodded as she groaned internally.

As the gang prepared to head back to the ranch house, Scooby barked after doing some sniffing around.

"Like, Scooby's found something, guys." Shaggy called out, and the others quickly rushed over to join them.

"What is it that Scooby discovered?" Velma asked as Scooby returned, holding an object in his mouth.

"Ri found ris ron the grass, rear re ranch." Scooby said in a muffled voice.

Fred reached down and took the object. It was light green in appearance with some crystals inside, and it appeared to be some cylinder containing the crystals that creates the light green glow.

"Any idea what that is?" Daphne asked.

"I don't know." Fred shrugged. "But it could be a clue. Remember those glowing green flames the Ghost was shooting out from his guns the night before?"

"Yeah." Shaggy nodded. "Do you think the Ghost dropped it while trying to leave his mark on the ranch house?"

"Could be, Shaggy." Velma said. "I guess this is something we should ask your cousin Tawny or Deputy Dusty when they see us."

Everyone else nodded thoughtfully as they all looked at the disk-like glowing object.

* * *

A short while later, Tawny was holding the object in question not long after she returned from Old Man Zeke's place.

"Yes, I know what this is." She said as she looked at the object. "It's a type of fertilizer we frequently use for our crops."

"I guess whoever the Ghost really was had a lot of crops to plant." Shaggy remarked.

"It also means that anyone in this town could be the Ghost." Fred added. "After all, I'm sure everyone here have crops to plant and have access to this type of fertilizer."

"Yeah." Velma nodded. "Only question now is who and why."

As the group stared at each other, Daphne looked around and noticed something.

"Hey guys, I didn't realize that the town was closing down businesses on the eve of the annual Rodeo Festival." She said.

"Huh?" Everyone turned towards her.

"Check out that store front." Daphne said as she pointed to the store front in question.

As everyone looked towards the store front, Tawny spoke up, "Oh, that was the Sorghum General Store, which was the town's main grocery store before it closed down last month."

"How come, Tawny?" Shaggy asked. "That store was doing well when we were last here, and Scoob and I sure remember having a great meal at the diner of the store."

"Maybe those two were the culprits for the store going bankrupt as a resulting of eating all of the food prepared at the diner, no doubt." Velma whispered to the others, who nodded thoughtfully.

"Oh, Old Alvin told me that he got an offer from Black Rattler Management that he couldn't refuse." Tawny said as she gestured at the "For Sale" sign at the store front. "Said that he sold his store for a good price."

"That's too bad." Shaggy shook his head. "Like, I remember you telling me in our last visit that the place was doing well and have been here in Tumbleweed for decades and that there's no way it could've closed down."

"Tell me about it, Norville." Tawny sighed. "Besides, it's not logical that the town's best grocery store and restaurant will close down on the eve of the annual Rodeo Festival."

"Hmmm..." Fred remarked as he took a closer look at the "For Sale" sign.

"What're you thinking, Freddie?" Velma asked as the others turned towards him.

"I think I recognize Black Rattler Management, gang." Fred said as he rubbed his chin.

"Oh. How?" Daphne asked as everyone else arched their eyebrows.

"I remember my brother told me about this real estate company being involved in unethical business practices, particularly with the way it has acquired real estate." Fred explained. "The company will come upon a piece of land or real estate it simply must get its hands onto, then give the owner an offer which he or she couldn't refuse."

"Couldn't refuse?" Velma asked.

"As in the owner of the land or real estate has no choice but to accept the offer brought forward by the company." Fred replied. "Often, the owner will frequently encounter strange going-ons if he or she turned down the initial offer brought forward by the company, and then when things go south for their business or reputation, they'll have no choice but to accept the offer."

"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed before turning to Tawny and added, "Tawny, do you think Old Alvin may have received a similar business offer from Black Rattler Management and had no choice but to accept it after strange going-ons at the store?"

"Yes." Tawny nodded. "Those strange going-ons began after you and Scooby returned to Coolsville with your family."

"What kind of strange going-ons?" Daphne asked.

"Going-ons like the water pipes leaking, the food that was prepared in the diner mysteriously vanishing, rumours of mice infesting the place, stuff like that." Tawny explained nonchalantly. "Which is a shame. Old Alvin was really nice to his costumers, and he told me that he really wished he didn't need to sell the business to the real estate company."

"Jinkies." Velma said. "Has there been other businesses in town receiving similar offers from Black Rattle Management?"

"Uh...yes, come to think of it." Tawny replied after thinking for a while. "A handful of hotels and other stores in town have been rattled by strange going-ons this past few weeks, and all came not long after they received business offers from Black Rattle Management."

"Going-ons that include the Ghost of Dapper Jack haunting the town recently?" Daphne asked.

"I don't know if Dapper Jack's Ghost has something to do with Black Rattle Management's efforts to buy out the town." Tawny shrugged before sighing and added, "However, I'm not going to let some big shot company buy me out of this town. I've grown up here for most of my life, and I'm not letting our future children growing up not knowing the town their parents have grown up in."

"Don't worry, Tawny." Fred reassured her. "We will get to the bottom of this."

"Re promise." Scooby added.

Tawny sniffed and nodded. "Thanks, guys."

"Like, no need." Shaggy said as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "That's what family and friends are for, eh?"

Everyone else nodded and smiled in agreement.

* * *

 **Please read and review!**


	7. The split up and at the ranch

Chapter 7: The split up and at the ranch

Soon, the gang were back in the ranch house to get changed. By this point, Shaggy had already changed into wearing a green shirt with longer sleeves, together with a dark brown vest and a brown scarf, on top of the brown cowboy hat he has been wearing since they arrived in town the night before.

With the green shirt tucked under his pants, his silver cowboy belt buckle was clearly visible as he made his way through the living room.

"How do I look, Scoob?" Shaggy asked as he adjusted his vest in front of a mirror.

"Rou rook great, Raggy." Scooby replied with a couple of thumbs up. "Repecially re belt buckle rou've got."

"Thanks, man." Shaggy nodded as he went over to rub Scooby's head. "I always know that I can count on you."

Scooby nodded as Shaggy looked around before adding, "Say, what's taking Fred so long?"

"Ri ron't know." Scooby shrugged.

"Maybe we should check on him." Shaggy suggested as they made their way to the guest bedroom where Fred was sleeping at. "It normally doesn't take too long for Fred to change."

"Re'll soon find out." Scooby said.

Soon, the duo were at the door, where they heard some grunting from inside.

Knocking on the bedroom door, Shaggy called out, "Fred, you done in there?"

There was no response from Fred, and Shaggy and Scooby shared a look with each other.

"Maybe he didn't hear me knocking the door, Scoob." Shaggy said.

Scooby shrugged as he walked over and knocked on the door again.

When the duo received no response from Fred, they shared another look with each other before Shaggy grabbed the doorknob and opened the door and burst in, in time to see Fred struggling to put his light brown vest on.

The vest was clearly too small for Fred, and yet he continued with his efforts to put the vest on, and the vest was clearly too stubborn to let itself be worn by him.

Seeing Shaggy and Scooby at the doorway, Fred sighed before taking off his stubbornly small vest and said, "This is just swell. I didn't realize that the dryer shrank my vest when I was packing for the trip."

Shaggy and Scooby both chuckled at the remark.

"Like, maybe you should've checked your clothes more carefully before leaving for the trip, Freddie." Shaggy said.

"Sometimes, I feel like a slice of ham." Fred grumbled as he tossed the vest aside.

"Besides the vest, Fred, did you pack your other cowboy clothes?" Shaggy asked.

"I did bring my cowboy boots and my hat." Fred said as he pointed at the cowboy boots he was wearing and then gestured at the cowboy hat on his bed.

"Ah, wasn't that the hat you wore for your sheriff outfit from the Halloween costume party at Central almost three years ago?" Shaggy asked as he recognized the cowboy hat. "I'm kinda surprised that the hat still fits after all these years."

"Yes, it is Shaggy." Fred said. "And yeah, that was some drawing contest we had before the costume contest."

 **(Note: See _D4 A CCHS Story_ for the Halloween costume party in question)**

"I'm assuming the vest that shrank was the one you wore as your sheriff costume, eh?" Shaggy said.

"Yep." Fred sighed as he held up the shrank vest. "I guess it's time for me to get a new vest for the ranch."

"Oh well." Shaggy said as he and Scooby both shrugged. "You ready to head out and perhaps, tip our hats and slowly ride away?"

"For the former, yeah." Fred said as he got up and put on his cowboy hat. "As for the latter, it depends on what exactly you mean, Shag."

"As in singing my favourite country song _I Tipped My Hat and Slowly Rode Away_ while walking around town." Shaggy said.

"Oh that." Fred nodded understandingly. "Well, you guys do remember we've got a mystery at hand, huh?"

The bright expressions on Shaggy and Scooby's faces fell as he made the remark, and then the former said, "I was afraid you were going to say that."

"Well, come on." Fred said as he walked to the door, followed by Shaggy and Scooby. "We haven't had all day."

* * *

Meanwhile, in their shared guest bedroom, Daphne was doing the finishing touches of her outfit while Velma looked on.

"Aren't you getting changed?" Daphne asked Velma as she looked at herself in the mirror, slightly adjusting her light brown vest as she spoke.

"Nah." Velma shook her head. "Ranch life isn't my thing, and I just don't get the need to change into cowboy outfits. Besides, I find cowboy stories and movies boring and dull."

"After the time we've spent at Shag's Cousin Stetson's place last month, you still find ranch life unappealing?" Daphne asked before shrugging. "Oh well, suit yourself."

She then turned around and added, "How do I look?"

In addition to her green scarf and light brown vest, Daphne was wearing a buttoned-up pink blouse, a purple dress with a belt, light pink cowboy boots and a brown cowboy hat.

Velma leaned forward to take a closer look and then she shrugged. "Looks good."

Smiling, Daphne nodded before noting the clock and then said, "Come on. We better go meet up with the boys."

"Coming." Velma said as she got up from her bed and followed Daphne out of the room.

Soon, the girls met up with the boys and they made their way out of the ranch house together.

"Alright, gang." Fred said as they paused outside the front lawn to Tawny and Dusty's ranch house. "Shag and Scooby, you guys are gonna come with me as we check out the west side of town. The girls are going to check out the east side of town and we'll see if the folks are going to tell us more about Dapper Jack."

"Sounds good, Freddie." Velma nodded. "Where do we meet up afterwards?"

Fred frowned as he thought for a while, then he looked at the ranch house and said, "We'll meet back here when we're done."

"Sounds like a plan." Daphne smiled before grabbing Velma's hand and added, "Come on, Velma. A walk around town and chatting with the folks shall cheer your mood up, I reckon."

"Oh, this is gonna be a lot of fun." Velma sighed as she was tugged away by Daphne.

The boys shared a look with each other as the girls walked off before shrugging.

"I guess we should get moving." Shaggy suggested.

Scooby and Fred both nodded before the latter took the lead and the former and Shaggy began following him around town.

 **(Daphne and Velma)**

In the eastern side of town, the girls were walking down the street, though it was clear that the locals that were walking by them preferred to see Velma fit in more.

"I'm telling you, Daphne, I'm not interested in dressing up as a cowboy." Velma complained as Daphne lead the way.

"I guess you don't know what fun really is, do you?" Daphne asked.

"I do know what fun really is, Daphne." Velma said. "It's just that..."

"I'm willing to bet that you're probably too much of a chicken to try out new things, are you, Velma?" Daphne cut in.

"I'm not, it's just that..." Velma tried to answer, only for Daphne to cut in again with a chuckle.

"I'm sure you are, Velma." She chuckled. "And to think you keep referring to Shag and Scooby as chickens."

"I'm not a chicken, Daphne." Velma said. "I just don't wanna look ridiculous dressed up as a rancher, especially with my glasses."

"Well, Shag's cousin Dusty wears glasses." Daphne pointed out.

"Touche." Velma remarked. "Either way, I don't have any cowboy or ranching outfits, as my family and I aren't the type that goes to ranches for vacations."

"Perhaps I can be of great service in getting you the clothing you need to blend in." Daphne said.

"Sure." Velma said. "Though I should challenge you to not show off when you see me wearing my cowboy outfit."

"Challenged accepted!" Daphne smirked.

"Ugh." Velma sighed. "I should've known you would say that."

Daphne chuckled before seeing a nearby clothing shop and grabbed her friend's hand again.

"There's a clothing shop right there." She exclaimed as she pulled Velma by the arm. "I'm sure you'll be interested to see what they have in store."

 **(Fred, Shaggy and Scooby)**

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the boys were walking around the area, occasionally stopping to chat or help a townsfolk, during which Fred continued to pepper the locals about the story of Dapper Jack.

However, his continued questioning has so far yield no fruit, as pretty much everyone in town tells them what Dusty had told them the night before.

Eventually, the trio arrived at the Lazy Q Ranch, which is located not far from where they had their breakfast.

As they walked towards the gate leading to the ranch, one of the ranch hands saw them and walked towards them.

"Howdy there." He greeted the trio, who stopped and turned to him.

"Uh...howdy." Fred said unsurely. "Are you..."

"Kyle Levine, ranch hand of the Lazy Q Ranch." Kyle introduced himself before turning to Shaggy and added, "You must be the guy they mistaken to be the Ghost of Dapper Jack Rogers last night."

"Yeah, I am." Shaggy nodded. "If it weren't for my Cousin Daniel's and our friends' timing, I might've turned into a ghost myself."

"And speaking of the ghost, Mr. Levine, can you tell us more about him?" Fred added.

"Well, given the legend of Dapper Jack's Ghost is well-known in town, I don't believe I can tell you boys more without repeating what the folks say." Kyle shrugged. "But anyways, I heard you boys are visitin' from the big city."

"Yeah, we are." Fred nodded. "We're-"

"Perfect." Kyle smiled as he motioned them into the ranch. "I'm sure you boys are interested in picking up a few ranching skills or two."

"Well...uh...we were just..." Shaggy said unsurely as they were led into the ranch.

"Oh, nonsense." Kyle said. "You boys came all the way here from the big city, I'm sure you're interested in doing some ranching practice."

He then gestured towards the horses in the ranch with a few other ranch hands tending to them, and then Mr. Morrison joined them.

"It'll be a lot of fun for city boys, I promise." He said.

Shaggy, Scooby and Fred shared a look with each other, then shrugged.

"I guess we can give it a try, though it's been a while since-" Fred was saying, only for Kyle to cut them off.

"Ah, perfect." He smiled before gesturing towards two of the horses and added, "You boys will be takin' care of Ironfinger and Goldsnitch."

The boys looked at the two horses. One of them, with dark brown fur, looked more tame while the one with the gold fur looked like he could use some discipline.

"Like, Scoob and I call dibs on Ironfinger." Shaggy said as he and Scooby rushed over to the brown horse, leaving Fred with the gold fur horse.

"Actually, his name is Goldsnitch." Mr. Morrison pointed out as Shaggy and Scooby stood by the brown horse.

"Anyways, since you boys don't get a ride on horses on a frequent basis, a demonstration is in order." Kyle said before turning to Mr. Morrison and added, "Just watch what the ranch hands do when they get on the horse and all shall be good."

Shaggy, Scooby and Fred paused as they watched Mr. Morrison walked to his horse, and then stepped his left foot on the foot strap before lifting up and seating himself on the saddle.

At the sight, the boys shared a look with each other and shrugged.

"Looks easy." Fred said. "How hard can it be?"

* * *

 **Please read and review!**


	8. Horse riding and at the museum

Chapter 8: Horse riding and in the museum

 **(Daphne and Velma)**

A short while later, Daphne was waiting outside the changing rooms as Velma changes onto the cowgirl clothes she had picked out for her.

Whistling to the tune of Johnny Cash's _Ring of Fire_ , Daphne checked her wristwatch as she waited for Velma to finish.

"You finish in there, Velma?" She called out.

"I'm almost done, Daphne." Velma called back. "No need to rush me."

"Sure." Daphne said. "Just don't take all day. We haven't had all day, in case you've forgotten."

"I know, Daph." Velma sighed. "Just give me one more minute."

"Sure." Daphne rolled her eyes. "You told me exactly that five minutes ago."

"At least I don't take more than half an hour at the mirror applying makeup." Velma retorted.

"Whatever you say, Velms." Daphne raised her hands.

Another few minutes went by before Velma finally emerged from her booth.

"Well, well." Daphne said as she took a good look at Velma's cowgirl outfit before placing a hand on her hip and added, "You sure look gorgeous, Velma."

She was wearing a red cowboy hat, an buttoned-up orange blouse, a red skirt with an orange outline at the bottom and a pair of red cowboy boots.

"I honestly don't understand why people think dressing up as cowboys is amazing." Velma sighed as she stepped out of her booth. "I mean, it's pretty much what people wear everyday during the settlement era."

"Well, you have to hand it to those western films for bring in interest in the cowboy lifestyle, Velma." Daphne said as she looked closely at Velma's outfit.

"If you say so." Velma sighed again as she stepped through the door and joined Daphne.

Soon, the two girls were walking around town, looking around as they did so.

"How are you feeling in your new outfit, Velms?" Daphne asked.

"Um...okay, I guess." Velma replied uncertainly. "It does feel a bit weird going around in this, but I guess I can get used to it during our stay."

"That's good to hear, Velma." Daphne smiled before they came upon a building whose sign attracted their attention.

"Tumbleweed County Museum." The girls read.

Sharing a look with Daphne, Velma then said, "Maybe we can get more information on Dapper Jack Rogers here in the museum."

"Sounds like a good place to start." Daphne nodded. "Come on."

The girls then made their way into the museum, pushing open the saloon-style doors as they entered.

 **(Shaggy, Scooby and Fred)**

Back at the Lazy Q Ranch, Fred was busy trying to replicate the process in which the ranch hands got onto the horse.

However, as he steps his right foot on the saddle's foot strap for the left foot, he suddenly lost his balance and ended up falling off.

"Ooph!" He exclaimed as he landed on the ground.

As he grunted, he looked up and saw Shaggy and Scooby riding their horse with ease.

Getting up, Fred makes another attempt to get onto the horse, during which he saw Shaggy riding the horse, with the horse walking on its two back feet and its two front feet in the air.

As Fred looked on, he can see that Shaggy certainly looked fearless as the horse continued on with Scooby running around it.

"Like, don't give up just yet, Freddie." Shaggy called as he saw the blonde making his second attempt in getting on the horse. "You can do it!"

Fred grunted as he made his second attempt in getting on the horse. This time, he managed to succeed in getting on the horse and sighed in relief.

"Made it." He thought to himself.

However, his relief was short-lived. The moment he swung the rein, directing the horse to start moving, the saddle suddenly became loose and the weight shift caused Fred to end up upside down and under the horse.

With each step the horse stepped forward, Fred bumped his head onto the ground once.

"Oh! Ow! Oh! Ow!" He grunted as he kept hitting the ground with his head before tugging the rein and added, "Woah, boy! Woah!"

However, the horse didn't seem to understand the commands, and it took the efforts of a couple of the nearby ranch hands before the horse finally stopped and the saddle and Fred were back right side up.

 **(Daphne and Velma)**

Over at the Tumbleweed County Museum, the girls looked around at the exhibits.

The first thing that caught their attention was a wax figure of Dapper Jack in his glory days, namely as a U.S. Marshal.

Taking the time to take a closer look at the wax figure, the duo admired his outfit and noted his dark brown hair, dark brown beard, red bandana, light brown cowboy hat and brown coat.

"Jinkies!" Velma remarked. "He sure looked a lot like Shaggy."

"Tell me about it." Daphne nodded in agreement.

Reading the information plaque accompanying the wax figure, the girls noted his military service during the Civil War, where he attained the rank of lieutenant colonel before demobilization following the end of the war, just like what Dusty told them the night before.

The girls were so absorbed in examining the wax figure that they didn't hear the museum's curator approaching them from behind.

"May I help you ladies with something?" The curator asked, causing the girls to jump in shock before realizing it was only a middle-aged man in a workman outfit approaching them.

Eying the Dapper Jack wax figure the girls were examining, he then added, "I see you ladies were attracted to our Dapper Jack wax figure here."

"Oh...yes, we were." Velma quickly said as their cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "We're here to see if you can give us any more information on Dapper Jack."

"Is this about his ghost haunting the town?" The curator raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Daphne nodded. "Deputy Dusty Rogers told us about the haunting sights in town of him riding off into the sunset to catch Don Ford, never to return again like he did more than a century ago."

"Except that last night, his ghost showed up in town and caused plenty of damage." Velma added.

"Yes, I heard about that." The curator nodded before shaking his head and added, "Don't tell anyone else in town that I told you this, but that figure that attacked the town last night ain't his ghost."

Daphne and Velma shared a look with each other in response.

 **(Shaggy, Scooby and Fred)**

"Easy does it." Kyle said as he and Mr. Morrison used a clean cloth that was soaked with alcohol and rubbed it on Fred's left leg, who gritted his teeth as the cloth came into contact with the gash he received.

The gash came when he made his latest attempt to ride the horse without incident.

Unlike his previous attempt, the saddle didn't come loose the moment the horse began walking. Instead, all went well and fine as the horse made its steps around the ranch.

"Now we're gettin' somewhere." Fred remarked to the horse before noticing Shaggy and Scooby doing some more tricks with their horse.

Eying the duo having fun with their horse, Fred then said to the horse, "Let's see if you can do any tricks like your friend there."

However, whatever Fred just said, the horse must've taken it as if he just insulted him with a bunch of words that one will never utter in a place like a church, mosque or a temple, because next thing he knew, the horse suddenly went loco, flipping around, snorting and jumping up and down as if it was in a stampede.

Larry and Kyle, who were observing nearby, quickly acted as the horse went completely bananas.

"Woah! Hey!" Fred panted as he tried to hold onto the rein. "Calm down, man!"

However, the horse continued to ignore his commands, and even as Larry and Kyle tried to calm him down, the straps attaching the saddle to the animal were becoming increasingly loose and worn down as the horse jumped around.

Soon, before anyone knew it, the saddle, with Fred on it, detached from the horse and Fred ended up flying off towards the fence, where he gashed his left leg (Leading to a hole on the left pant leg of his jeans) as he sailed over the fence.

With the other ranch hands working to calm the horse down, Kyle and Larry rushed over to his aid.

Once they were done, the two ranch hands then dressed the wound.

"I think you probably have enough horse-riding for the day, pardner." Kyle said to Fred.

"Yeah, I suppose so." Fred said before noticing one of the other ranch hands lassoing the out-of control horse and added, "Maybe I should try out my lassoing skills."

Kyle and Larry shared a look with each other in response.

 **(Daphne and Velma)**

"What do you mean the ghost last night can't be Dapper Jack's ghost, Mr., uh...?" Daphne asked the curator, who quickly responded.

"Hinshaw." He said. "Zack Hinshaw, curator of the County Museum."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Hinshaw." Velma said as she and Daphne shook his hand.

"So what were you saying about Dapper Jack's Ghost earlier, Mr. Hinshaw?" Daphne asked.

"There's no way Dapper Jack's Ghost could've returned to town after rushing off into the sunset to pursue Don Ford like he does every evening." Hinshaw explained. "And even if he managed to return, he wouldn't be smashing his way through town like he did last night, because he would've instead smash his way to the sheriff's office, and yet the sheriff's office is one of the several places to remain intact after last night."

"As in his ghost was supposed to then haunt the sheriff's office and get Sheriff Carmichael to confess his involvement in arranging for Don Ford to finish him off?" Daphne asked.

"Yes." Hinshaw nodded before gesturing to the doorway behind the counter of the museum's souvenir shop and added, "If you girls take a good read at Sheriff Carmichael's diary and Dapper Jack's journal, which is stored in the museum storeroom behind that doorway over there, you'll understand more about the Don Ford saga."

Daphne and Velma shared a look with each other before they nodded.

"We'll like to take a look at them, Mr. Hinshaw." Velma said.

"Very well." Mr. Hinshaw nodded again. "Follow me."

 **(Shaggy, Scooby and Fred)**

Back at the Lazy Q Ranch, the three visitors were now practicing lassoing cattle.

Fred was once again making his efforts to use the lasso, hoping to get it onto the practice dummy.

Swinging the lasso in the air, Fred was about to throw it towards the dummy when he lost control of the rope and ended up having the lasso tangle him up, leading to him losing his balance and falling to the ground.

As that happened, Scooby was running around the ranch and mooing, as if he was cattle.

Close behind the Great Dane was Shaggy, who was swinging his lasso.

With Scooby running fast like wild cattle, Shaggy threw his lasso towards Scooby, whereupon the loop in the rope closed in on Scooby's feet and stopping him right in his tracks.

"Woah!" Mr. Morrison exclaimed as the ranch hands saw Shaggy's lasso tying up Scooby's feet. "That guy's a natural!"

Rushing over, the ranch hands arrived as Shaggy finished tying a knot in the lasso that tied up Scooby's feet.

"You're a fast learner, city boy." Kyle said to Shaggy. "I guess with your relation to Dapper Jack, it is natural for you to be able to pick up ranch skills that fast."

"Like, thanks, partner." Shaggy nodded as he tipped his cowboy hat.

While that was happening, Fred was struggling to get up, and Mr. Morrison and Kyle were quick to leave Shaggy and Scooby and move to his aid.

"Here, let us help get you untangled, pardner." Kyle said to Fred as he and Mr. Morrison kneeled down on their feet.

As they work to untie Fred, Scooby managed to untie himself and handed the lasso back to Shaggy.

"Scooby-Dooby-Doo, rand Raggy too!" Scooby barked, and the duo burst out laughing.

"I guess I wasn't as rusty in my ranching skills as I thought, Scoob." Shaggy remarked.

Scooby nodded in agreement before Shaggy turned to head to the ranch's shed to follow the other ranch hands in getting some more tools.

As Scooby looked around, he saw Billy leaning on the fence, watching the horses and the ranch hands and looking anxious.

* * *

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	9. A theft and shoeing a horse

Chapter 9: A theft and shoeing a horse

Daphne and Velma followed Mr. Hinshaw into the museum's storeroom, located right behind the front counter of the museum souvenir shop.

The girls then looked on as Mr. Hinshaw looked around at the boxes on the storage racks, searching for one particular box.

Eventually, Mr. Hinshaw's eyes settled on a wooden chest at the bottom level of one of the storage racks.

"Ah, there's the chest I was looking for!" He said as he and the girls walked over to the racks, where they then worked together to pull it out and set in on the floor.

"What's inside this chest, Mr. Hinshaw?" Velma asked.

"Like I told you girls earlier." Mr. Hinshaw paused as he turned to them. "You want the full story behind Dapper Jack? You need to take a good read of his journal and Sheriff Carmichael's diary, which are stored in this chest."

"Then, what are we waiting for?" Daphne asked as she kneeled down and moved to open the chest. "Let's take a look at the journals, shall we?"

Velma nodded as she followed suit and they worked to open the chest.

What they saw were piles of some old clothing, likely those worn by Dapper Jack in his hayday and several other items.

However, as they get the items out and search deeper in the chest, they found no booklet.

Daphne and Velma then bent up and turned to Mr. Hinshaw.

"Were those supposed to be in a booklet, Mr. Hinshaw?" Velma asked.

"Yes, of course." Mr. Hinshaw nodded. "Why?"

"There's no booklet in this chest, Mr. Hinshaw." Daphne replied.

"What?" Mr. Hinshaw asked before leaning down to the chest and looked through the contents and objects in it. "It can't be!"

The curator then searched through the objects, looked around in the chest before looking up at the girls.

"I don't understand!" He said. "The journals! They were in this chest yesterday when I closed up the museum!"

"Are you certain that this chest is where you kept the journals, Mr. Hinshaw?" Daphne asked.

"I'm very positive." Mr. Hinshaw nodded. "There's no way I'll place them in a different chest or box in here. It's to keep the display items of the museum organized, as so that I don't end up losing them or mix them up."

Daphne and Velma nodded thoughtfully.

"Does anyone have the key to the storage room door when its locked?" Daphne asked.

"Besides me, I have a copy that's at the sheriffs, which is used only for emergencies, such as if I lose the key." Mr. Hinshaw said. "But other than that, nobody else has the key to the storage room."

"Why would someone steal Dapper Jack's journal and Sheriff Carmichael's diary?" Velma asked.

"Beats me." Mr. Hinshaw replied. "But I digress, I better go fetch the sheriff and inform him of this."

* * *

Meanwhile, Scooby walked over to Billy as Shaggy joined the ranch hands in getting some ranching tools.

"Rou okay?" Scooby asked in concern, causing Billy to jump in fright.

When he saw Scooby, the young boy relaxed as he said, "Hey, you're that Great Dane that ate a handful of Chef Williams' cooking over at the picnic table!"

"Rhat's me!" Scooby barked. "Scooby-Dooby-Doo!"

"Wow." Billy said. "I didn't know you can talk."

"Rell..." Scooby shrugged, only for the boy to cut him off.

"It's okay." Billy said. "I've had my own fair share of witnessing strange stuff. But anyways, I just don't know if I can get anywhere near horses after my close-call at Cousin Gibby's ranch last summer."

"Come on, Billy." His sister Deborah said from nearby as she shoed a horse. "You can do it!"

"Easier for you to say when you weren't the one caught in that stampede, Debbie!" Billy argued.

"Ri can help." Scooby said to Billy.

"You can?" Billy asked.

"Rust climb ron my rack rand re go to one rof re horses." Scooby said.

"You sure?" Billy asked as Scooby crouched down.

Scooby nodded.

"Okay, then." Billy said before swallowing, took a deep breath and then proceeded to climb onto Scooby's back.

"Ready?" Scooby asked.

Billy nodded, and then Scooby slowly began to lift his body up.

When he fully stood up on his four legs, Scooby turned to Billy and asked, "Rou okay?"

"Uh...so far so good." Billy said as he grabbed onto Scooby collar to keep his balance. "I...think you can start walking like a regular horse."

"Rokay." Scooby nodded before he proceeded to walk around the ranch.

For a while, the ride was a bit bumpy, and then Billy was starting to get used to it.

"Rou ready for re horse?" Scooby asked after a while.

"Uh...I think I'll feel more comfortable if you allow me to ride on your back for the next while before I get near a horse." Billy replied.

"Ralright." Scooby nodded, and then he continued on walking around the ranch with Billy riding on his back.

During this time, the other ranchers were ready to do their next task.

"Okay, so what's next?" Fred asked as the ranch hands and Shaggy joined him.

"Next, we're gonna shoe our horses." Kyle explained before gesturing to the nearby box of horseshoes and added, "With these."

"Wait, so how exactly are we going to shoe them onto their hooves?" Fred asked as he looked down on the box of horseshoes before looking back up at Kyle and Larry.

Without a word, Larry pulled out a hammer and some nails from the nearby toolbox as Kyle continued, "With those."

"Like, so we're nailing these horseshoes into the hooves?" Shaggy asked. "Wouldn't the horse feel anything?"

"Not if its done correctly." Kyle replied. "Hooves are insensitive like finger nails, so the horse won't feel anything when you nail the horseshoe onto the hooves."

"Of course, you need to make sure the horse is kept still during the process." Larry added. "Last thing you need is the horse getting hurt as a result of a nail being nailed into the sensitive part of its feet."

"Which is also why we're going to guide you boys through the process so you'll figure out how to shoe a horse without causing any pain or inconvenience to the animal." Kyle continued.

Larry then turned to Shaggy and added, "I'm sure you won't have an issue shoeing your horse, as you're quite the fast learner when it comes to ranching, though it certainly doesn't hurt watching a demonstration on how to do so."

Shaggy and Fred shared a look with each other, and they both shrugged.

"Then, let's give it a shot." Fred said.

* * *

Some moments later, Daphne and Velma were walking through town as they looked around for the boys.

"I wonder if the guys have found something." Velma remarked as they walked.

Before Daphne could reply to the matter, they both heard laughter coming from up ahead.

"You hear that, Velma?" Daphne asked.

"I sure do." Velma nodded before she pointed to up ahead and added, "If I'm correct, that laughter is coming from the ranch up ahead."

Daphne nodded in confirmation as they rushed over to the source of the laughter, which lead them to the Lazy Q Ranch, where they saw a gathering of onlookers laughing as they gathered by the ranch entrance.

The area was packed enough that Daphne and Velma had to push their way through to the fence in order to see what the crowd was laughing at.

"What's going on?" Daphne asked one of the onlookers as she and Velma pushed their way to the fence.

"Take a look at that guy trying to shoe a horse!" One of the men watching the scene replied.

"Shoeing a horse?" Velma asked.

The man turned towards her and Daphne, pointed towards the inside of the ranch, and said, "Just watch."

No sooner did Daphne and Velma got to the fence did the scene in front of them explains a lot about the laughter.

In the middle of the ranch, Fred was trying in vain to shoe a horse.

Every time when he had the horseshoe, a nail and the hammer ready, the horse will stubbornly trying to sway its foot away as so Fred won't be able to get a good lay of where exactly to shoe the horseshoe onto.

During those tries, Fred noticed Shaggy had already finished shoeing his horse and has headed off for a ride in town.

It took a while before Fred finally had enough of the horse's actions and decided to get some special tools.

When Daphne and Velma arrived, they saw Fred using a jack to pump the horse's left back leg up into position.

"Fred!" Daphne called out. "Is that really how you shoe a horse?"

"Well, this one has been giving me a hard time, Daph, so I had to turn to use special tools to get it done." Fred replied as he held the hoof on one hand, hammer in the other hand and holding the nails with his teeth.

"Fred, are you sure you can..." Velma was about to say when Fred cut her off.

"Don't worry, girls." He said confidently. "I know what I'm doing."

With that remark, Fred then got one nail ready, holding it right on one of the holes of the horseshoe, and lifted his right hand, holding the hammer, in preparation to nail the horseshoe into the hoof.

Daphne and Velma shared a look with each other, shrugged, and then turned back to face Fred.

"Just be..." Daphne was about to say, but as she began speaking, the horse had enough of Fred's antics and moved its back left leg downwards, leading to the jack to fall over.

Before Fred had time to react, the horse then proceeded to give him a good kick in the chest, which sent him flying across the ranch grounds.

Daphne, Velma and the crowd all gasped as Fred flew over and crashed into the fence on the other side of the ranch.

The splinter of the wood from the impact of the crash was enough for several of the ranch hands to rush in to Fred's aid.

"...careful." Daphne finished before she and Velma rushed over to Fred's aid.

* * *

A short while later, Dusty has completed the finishing touches of the sling on Fred's left arm while everyone else looked on.

"How long should I be wearing this sling?" Fred asked once Dusty was finished.

"Well, from what I know about broken arms, I'd say you'll need to keep wearing the sling for at least a month, Fred." Shaggy said with his arms folded.

"Oh, this is just swell." Fred frowned. "I sure feel like a slice of ham."

"Anyways, so what do you guys discover?" Tawny asked.

"Well, Velma and I visited the county museum to get some information on Dapper Jack." Daphne said.

"The curator Mr. Hinshaw was helpful and guided us to Dapper Jack's journal and Sheriff Carmichael's diary." Velma added.

"However, when it came down to giving us the two journals, which were stored in a chest in the museum's storage room behind the gift shop counter, Mr. Hinshaw led us there, only to find that the two journals are missing." Daphne said.

"Missing?" Dusty asked. "Are you guys sure he didn't misplace the journals or have it placed in another box by mistake?"

Even as Dusty asked the question, he knew that it was very unlikely that Mr. Hinshaw would misplace the journals, as the town knew the curator to be a very organized person and was very careful.

"Yes, we're very sure." Velma nodded.

"Like, in that case, what would a ghost need with Dapper Jack's journal or Sheriff Carmichael's diary?" Shaggy asked.

"Good question, Shag." Fred nodded thoughtfully before turning to the others and added, "Other than that, did you guys find anything else?"

"No." Both Daphne and Velma shook their heads.

"Alright, then." Dusty said before turning to the boys and added, "What about you guys?"

"Not much." Fred shook his head. "Many of the folks we've asked in town pretty much told us the same thing you told us last night with regards to Dapper Jack."

"Yeah." Shaggy added. "Like, much of the folks in town knew the legend the same way you guys did."

"Well, I guess the main question is what now." Tawny placed her hands by her hips.

"I think we should go check out Dapper Jack's grave." Velma suggested.

"G-g-grave?" Shaggy asked as he and Scooby stood up.

"Yeah." Velma nodded. "Mr. Hinshaw, the curator, told us that there's something suspicious about last night's attack, conferring that he doesn't believe it was really Dapper Jack's ghost that attacked the town last night."

"So we're going to check out Dapper Jack's grave and see if we can find any information on the ghost?" Daphne asked.

"Exactly what I'm thinking." Velma nodded.

* * *

 **Please read and review!**


	10. At the cemetery and the chase

**Note: For the upcoming chase sequence, I strongly suggest that you folks go onto YouTube and search up Johnny Cash's _Ring of Fire_ and listen to it while reading the parts with the chase.**

 **All the lyrics are in _italics_ and they belong to Johnny Cash, not me.**

* * *

Chapter 10: At the cemetery and the chase

The sun has already completely set by the time the gang arrived at the town cemetery, not long after having dinner at the Dusty's place.

"So what exactly are we supposed to be looking for here in the cemetery, Velma?" Daphne asked as they parked the Mystery Machine in the cemetery parking lot before getting off the van.

"Hopefully, some answers regarding Dapper Jack and clues pertaining to last night's ghost appearance in town." Velma said.

"And we have to pick this time of the day to check out the cemetery." Shaggy sighed as Scooby looked around nervously. "At a time when hauntings are at their worst."

"Oh, come on, Shaggy." Velma scolded. "There's no such things as ghosts haunting a cemetery. Usually, the weird noises only comes from the wind and any tree branches we might be stepping on whenever we take a look around."

"Anyways, we don't have all evening to stand around, gang." Fred suggested. "We should get going."

"Right." Velma nodded as she turned on her flashlight. "Perhaps we should split up?"

"That's what I was thinking." Fred nodded. "You girls come with me and we search the north side of the cemetery, while Shag and Scooby search the south side."

"Oh boy." Shaggy sighed. "Maybe we should-"

He paused when he saw the stone-faced looks on the faces of Fred and the girls, then he sighed again.

"Uh, never mind." Shaggy said before turning to Scooby and added, "Looks like it's the two of us again, Scoob old buddy."

"Reah." Scooby nodded in agreement as the gang proceeded to split up.

 **(Fred and the girls)**

On their end of the cemetery, Fred and the girls looked around with their flashlights shining around their surroundings.

It didn't take much for Velma and Daphne to notice the look of pain on Fred's face as he looked around.

"You know, Fred, perhaps you should stay in the Mystery Machine while we search the cemetery." Daphne suggested. "You took quite a hit when that horse kicked you towards the fence back at the ranch."

"Yeah." Velma nodded in agreement. "You need time for your broken left arm to heal and even with the lights from our flashlights, it's still dark out here and who know what hazards you might encounter here that will make your broken arm the least of your worries."

"I can take care of myself, girls." Fred waved the suggestions off. "It's not like I'm heading off to fight in Europe like my uncle did back in the day."

"Yes, we know, Freddie." Daphne said. "It's just that a broken arm takes more than a month to heal, and if you trip over something in the dark while we're searching through the cemetery, then your arm will take a longer time than that if it gets disturbed as a result of your tripping."

"Don't worry, girls." Fred said. "I'm going to be extra careful, and besides, the only hazards here in the cemetery will be the tomb stones, and even then, the tombstones are laid out in orderly fashions, so as long as we stay on the main paths, then there's no need to worry about getting tripped over."

Daphne and Velma shared a look with each other, then they sighed.

"Okay, suit yourself." Velma sighed as she raised her arms in surrender. "Come on, we-"

Before she could finish her remark, they all heard something from the other part of the cemetery.

"Say, you guys hear something?" Daphne asked as she raised a hand.

Fred and Velma both looked around, where they saw another source of light, that one being from Shaggy's flashlight.

"I'm sure that was just Shag and Scooby, probably stepping on a twig on the ground." Fred offered.

"The noise I just heard wasn't coming from where Shag and Scooby are." Daphne said.

"I guess it's most likely just the wind, or an owl taking off from a tree branch." Velma said as she pointed towards a nearby tree that is located outside the cemetery.

There was another pause before Daphne said, "Well, owl or no owl, the sooner we find whatever we're looking for, the better, because my woman's intuition tells me that if we overstay our welcome, we will certainly invite trouble."

"Then, come on." Fred motioned as they continued on.

 **(Shaggy and Scooby)**

Meanwhile, Shaggy and Scooby were looking around anxiously.

"Man, why is it that we always have to check out a cemetery at the dead of night, Scoob?" Shaggy wondered.

"R-r-r-read?" Scooby swallowed at the mentioning of the word "dead".

"Oh, didn't mean to scare you, Scoob." Shaggy said. "Like, I meant to say, middle of the night."

"Rhat's reassuring." Scooby said, not reassured at all, given the darkness.

It was then that a creepy-sounding "Who" caught their attention, leading them to jump in fright.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as Scooby leaped into his arms in fright, causing him to drop his flashlight in the process.

The moment the flashlight hit the ground, the light went out.

Seeing the light going out, Shaggy and Scooby looked down at it before swallowing.

"There goes our source of light, Scoob." Shaggy said.

The creepy-sounding "Who" then repeated itself, and the duo swallowed.

With their teeth chattering, Shaggy and Scooby looked around anxiously before they found the source of the noise.

It came from an owl resting on a nearby tree branch, and the duo relaxed.

"Heh." Shaggy chuckled nervously. "What do you know? It was only an owl."

"Reah." Scooby agreed with a nervous chuckle of his own. "Re-he-he-he-he-he-he!"

"I guess the jokes on us, eh Scoob?" Shaggy asked as he turned towards a certain direction, then his eyes widened and he swallowed.

"Ruh?" Scooby asked as he saw the change in expression on Shaggy's face.

"Scoob, do you suppose that tombstone over there belongs to Dapper Jack?" Shaggy asked as he pointed towards the tombstone in question.

Scooby looked towards where Shaggy was pointing at and swallowed.

"Ri think so, Raggy." He nodded as he got off Shaggy's arms.

Following Scooby, Shaggy got a closer look at the tombstone. It was glowing green and it had a message saying, "Evil lives on."

Leaning closely, the duo find that the words on the tombstone were intelligible without a flashlight.

"Like, someone sure is going through a lot of effort in pinning Dapper Jack as an evil person, but it doesn't make any sense." Shaggy said before frowning. "What is it that Dapper Jack did that made people think he's an evil person?"

Scooby shrugged before he and Shaggy went to flag Fred and the girls.

* * *

A short while later, Fred and the girls were gathered around Dapper Jack's tombstone and were closely examining the glowing message.

With the flashlight shined on it, the message disappeared and they were able to confirm that it was, indeed, Dapper Jack's tombstone.

"You're right, Shaggy. It doesn't make any sense." Daphne said.

"Yeah." Fred nodded in agreement as he turned to the others. "Why is it that someone's out there believing that Dapper Jack's an evil person?"

"Dusty's story didn't mention any evil deeds that Dapper Jack did." Velma frowned. "All the reason for us to find Dapper Jack and Carmichael's journals."

Everyone else nodded as they turned to the tombstone again, and it was then that Daphne noticed the light green mist surrounding the area.

"Is it just me, or is there glowing green mist piling up?" She asked as she looked around.

"I see it, and I don't know what it is, but something's telling me that..." Shaggy was saying when he was cut off by that all-too-familiar evil laugh.

The gang all gasped as they turned towards the source of the laugh.

"Oh, please don't tell me..." Velma said, only to stop mid-sentence as they found the Ghost of Dapper Jack on his horse laughing as he fired green flames into the air, standing right behind the fence.

"It's the ghost!" Fred exclaimed as the Ghost on the horse leaped over the fence and rushed over towards them.

"Like, gangway!" Shaggy exclaimed as they quickly took off running with the Ghost in close pursuit.

The gang rushed out of the cemetery, intending to get back onto the Mystery Machine.

However, the Ghost fired several shots, leading to massive flames that blocked the gang's reach to the Mystery Machine.

Seeing that the Ghost is intent to not let them get them to the Mystery Machine, Fred saw another pathway and shouted, "This way!"

Swiftly, the others quickly followed his lead down the pathway, except for Scooby, because just then, the Ghost fired another shot, leading to another fire area that blocked his way to the others.

"Ripe!" Scooby exclaimed as the Ghost stopped in front of him.

With the horse snorting in his face, Scooby swallowed, and then seeing that the horse was still standing up on all four legs, without hesitation, the Great Dane immediately ducked down and wiggled his way under the horse to the other side and rushed over to join the rest of the gang.

It was then that they saw several mine carts on tracks leading into a closed-down mine.

"The mine carts!" Fred exclaimed as he pointed at them. "It's our only chance!"

"Like, are you crazy?" Shaggy exclaimed as Fred and the girls got onto one. "That mine is closed down for a reason, Freddie! Maybe you wanna-"

"Then, are you willing to stay here with the Ghost?" Velma asked as she pointed towards the approaching ghost.

Seeing the Ghost chasing Scooby, Shaggy swallowed before quickly reaching to another mine cart and hopped in.

With Scooby still being chased by the Ghost, Shaggy shouted, "Hurry, Scoob!"

"Ri'm coming!" Scooby exclaimed as he made a giant leap and landed in the mine cart with Shaggy.

The momentum from Scooby landing on the mine cart lead to the carts taking off down the tracks and into the closed down mine.

Seeing the gang getting away, the Ghost dismounted from his horse and jumped onto another minecart, the momentum also leading to the cart taking off down the tracks in pursuit of the gang.

Deep inside the mine, the gang looked around in relief.

"I think we're safe from the Ghost, gang." Fred said.

"Safe?" Daphne asked. "We don't even know where we're heading, Fred."

"And I think we're about to have company!" Shaggy added as he pointed to the back. "Look!"

The gang followed Shaggy's hand and saw the Ghost fast-approaching on the mine cart, laughing as he went.

Gasping, the gang quickly leaned forward as the carts began speeding up, during which Johnny Cash's _Ring of Fire_ began playing in the background.

As the mariachi-style horns introduced the song, followed by the percussion and the guitar playing, the three carts began splitting up after passing a junction, with Shaggy and Scooby's cart ending up on a cart heading to the left while the Ghost's cart followed Fred and the girls on the right.

" _Love...is a burning thing..._ " Cash sang as the Ghost fired several shots towards the cart carrying Fred and the girls, during which Daphne held onto Fred when she almost fell off the cart due to a loss in balance.

" _And it makes...a fiery ring_..." The flames that shot out from the Ghost's gun formed a ring around the tunnel, which the two carts went through effortlessly.

As the two carts continued on, the Ghost managed to get close to the cart in front of it, only for them to pass another junction.

The Ghost came close to grabbing Velma just before the split-up as Cash sang, " _Bound...by wild desire..._ "

It was then that he saw Shaggy and Scooby's cart above him, and with a growl, he fired several flames at a truss bridge in front of Shaggy and Scooby's track.

The flames burned a hole in the truss and formed into a tall ring, and as Shaggy and Scooby's cart fell through, Cash sang, " _I fell into a ring of fire_."

As Shaggy and Scooby sailed through the air, the song continued. " _I fell in to a burning ring of fire..._ "

With Shaggy and Scooby embracing each other in fright, noticing that the flames were getting higher by the minute, the song continued, " _I went down, down, down...and the flames went higher..._ "

Then, Scooby smelled something burning, and when he saw his tail had caught fire, he exclaimed, "Ripe!"

Swiftly, the duo took turns trying to puff at the flame to get it off, while the song continued, "... _and it burns, burns, burns...the ring of fire...the ring of fire._ "

It was then that the cart landed right on the tracks below, the wheels miraculously ending up right on the rails and the duo managed to put the flame out.

The laughter from Dapper Jack reminded them of the danger facing them, and the duo quickly took off again.

The chase then lead to an area where there are two levels and tracks, both of which began and ended with tunnels.

Initially, Fred and the girls emerged from the bottom left tunnel and arrived at the bottom right tunnel, while Dapper Jack chased Shaggy and Scooby from the top left to the top right tunnels.

Then, Dapper Jack was chasing Fred and the girls at the top, firing more flames at them, while Shaggy and Scooby watched the drama unfolding at the bottom.

Then, the whole scene became mixed up as the parties involved in the chase simultaneously entered one tunnel, exited at another, entered the one on the other end of the tracks and then exit a different tunnel.

Eventually, Shaggy and Scooby reunited with the others as Dapper Jack chased the two carts down the tracks, heading further into the mine.

As that was happening, Fred saw the tracks leading to an opening where the full moon was in full view.

"There's our ticket out of here, gang!" He shouted as he pointed at the opening.

"Then, like, what are we waiting for?" Shaggy asked as he saw Dapper Jack preparing to fire one shot at them.

The Ghost fired the shot, and the flames sailed over towards them.

"Duck!" Fred exclaimed, and they quickly ducked under and the flames sailed over them.

It was then that the flames landed on a nearby barrel, which then caught fire.

Through the fire, the gang managed to see the nearby sign, and their eyes all widened as they saw what the sign read.

'DANGER: EXPLOSIVES" They read in alarm, then they turned towards Dapper Jack, who laughed menacingly as he retreated out of the room that turned out to be an explosives storage room.

"Jeepers!" Daphne exclaimed. "Let's get out of here!"

As the flames spread to the other nearby explosives, Shaggy and Scooby saw a couple of discarded shovels and swiftly grabbed them.

Using the shovels as paddles, the duo quickly sped forward, pushing into Fred and the girls' cart and they quickly rushed out to the opening in front of them.

A moment later, a deafening explosion took place just as the gang managed to make it out of the mine.

The explosion and the flying flames pushed the carts out of the mine, leading the gang to sail through the air.

" _And it burns, burns, burns...the ring of fire...the ring of fire...the ring of fire...the ring of fire..._ " The song fades out as Scooby saw his tail caught on fire yet again while the carts flew through the air.

Scooby's worries about his burning tail was relieved when the two carts landed, with Shaggy and Scooby's cart landing in a nearby creek while Fred and the girls landed on the sandy coast.

The splash from Shaggy and Scooby landing in the creek put out the flames on Scooby's tail, and the Great Dane sighed in relief.

* * *

 **Please read and review!**


	11. Another clue and at the barn

Chapter 11: Another clue and at the barn

No sooner did Shaggy and Scooby stepped onto the shore of the creek and made their way to Fred and the girls did they realize that the fall had some repercussions on them.

"Like, is everyone alright?" Shaggy asked in concern as he and Scooby helped Daphne get off the overturned mine cart.

"I think I'm okay, though I'm certain my hair can do a little fixing, Shag." Daphne replied as she adjusted her wet hair before gesturing to Fred and Velma and added, "And I think Fred and Velms are going to need help."

Fred and Velma found themselves laying under the overturned minecart, and Shaggy and Scooby wasted no time rushing over to their aid.

Both of them groaned as Shaggy and Scooby overturned the minecart, and Daphne walked over to join them.

"Are you alright, Velma?" She asked as she knelt down beside Velma in concern.

"Oh..." Velma groaned as she tried to stand up, only to slump down towards her right, forcing Daphne to reach over to support her before she fell over. "Jinkies, I think I might've sprained my ankle."

"Let me check." Shaggy said as he knelt down by her side and helped her take her right boot off before proceeding to touch her ankle.

The moment he lightly touched her right ankle, Velma yelped in pain.

"Like, you sure did, Velms." Shaggy said before looking towards Scooby, who was attending to Fred's side.

Seeing the worried look on Scooby's face, Shaggy knew that something was up as he got up and walked over to Fred's side.

"You okay, Freddie?" Shaggy asked the blonde, who groaned in pain.

"I...think it's my right leg." Fred said, and Shaggy moved quick to examine it, during which the blonde winced in pain as Shaggy touches it gently.

As Scooby and the girls looked on, Shaggy's face turned serious, then he paused and turned to Fred and shook his head.

"What's the problem, Shaggy?" Daphne asked.

"I think Fred's got a broken leg." Shaggy shook his head and sighed. "Must've been from the fall we all just had."

At Shaggy's remark, the others all looked at each other in concern.

* * *

 _July 24, 1971_

By the time Shaggy and Scooby managed to return to them with help, the sun has already risen.

The moment Dusty, Tawny, Yabba and a couple of Dusty's colleagues got word on what had happened, they wasted no time getting down to fix up Fred and Velma.

"Good thing you guys were nearby when Scoob and Shag walked by the waterfall to call for help." Daphne said as Dusty finished bandaging up Velma's right ankle.

"Well, when you guys didn't return from the cemetery last night, Daniel and I become concerned." Tawny explained.

"Yeah, so Dusty and I then fetched a couple of his friends to help search for you guys." Yabba said.

"And when we saw that the abandoned mine has been destroyed, we thought that the worst had happened." Dusty added.

"Well, consider yourselves lucky." The first deputy said and nodded at Shaggy and Scooby before adding, "If we were nowhere near the waterfall when you two were walking by calling for help, there's no way your friends will get the help they need by now."

"Well, Fred." Tawny said as they nodded at the cast on his right leg. "It looks like you wouldn't be driving for the next month or so."

"Oh, this is just perfect." Fred rolled his eyes. "I really feel like a slice of ham."

"Anyways, I think we should head back to the cemetery, guys." Velma said as she got up, though not without the aide of the clutches provided by their help. "Because I think we might have found something last night prior to our run-in with Dapper Jack's Ghost."

* * *

A short while later, the gang were back at the cemetery, where Dusty and company dropped them off in front of the parked Mystery Machine.

"Do be careful, and let us know if you guys need any help." Dusty was saying as the gang got off the police cruisers the search party were driving.

"Will do, cousin." Shaggy nodded and waved as the cruisers drove off, leaving the gang at the cemetery entrance.

Walking back to the Mystery Machine, the gang stopped when Velma boarded the van to grab some stuff.

"So what's the clue you think we might have found last night, Velms?" Fred asked as the others looked on.

"It's at Dapper Jack's grave." Velma said as she got out of the van holding a UV flashlight. "Come."

The others looked at each other, shrugged, and then proceeded to follow Velma back into the cemetery, where they then stopped at Dapper Jack's grave.

The gang watched as Velma tapped at a few spots of the gravestone, then she turned towards them as she took off her cowboy hat.

"Alright, so watch this, guys." She said as she placed her cowboy hat right on top of the gravestone, creating a shade on the top of the gravestone.

After that, she then took out her UV flashlight, turned it on and shined it at the shade, which enabled the gang to see the "Evil lives on" message, which was now glowing in purple under the UV rays.

"Jeepers!" Daphne remarked. "Are you saying that the message was, in fact, chemicals sprayed onto the tombstone?"

"UV powder, to be exact." Velma nodded. "And when you consider the fertilizer Scooby had found yesterday morning near the picnic tables, it shouldn't take much for us to figure out that this ghost is no legend."

It was then that the others noticed that Scooby wasn't with them.

"And speaking of Scooby, where did he go?" Fred asked as they looked around.

His question was answered by a growl coming from another part of the cemetery, where they made out Scooby's body and tail.

"Like, I think Scoob's found something." Shaggy said as they walked over to where Scooby is at, where it was easy to notice that Scooby was struggling.

By the time the gang arrived, Scooby had pulled out a large loudspeaker with his teeth on the plug as he pulled it out.

"Why, it's a loudspeaker." Fred said as they stopped.

"And I'll bet that it was the source of that creepy, ghostly sound we heard last night before our run-in with the ghost." Velma said.

"Well, ghost or no ghost, someone sure is going through a lot of effort to scare us away and stop us from digging to the bottom of this case." Daphne said.

"And I'll say that this case has to do with the missing journals from the museum, eh?" Shaggy added.

"Exactly." Fred nodded as they regrouped. "This also means that we're going to have to be careful going forward with this, gang."

* * *

A short while later, the gang were back in town, where they first stopped at the ranch house to get some rest.

During this time, Velma, sitting in the makeshift lab in the back of the Mystery Machine, mixed some chemicals with the fertilizer before lighting the mixture up, creating the same glow of green flames that were shot out from the pistols of the Ghost of Dapper Jack.

"So we now know that whoever is behind the ghost appearances must have had access to this type of fertilizer and UV powder." Velma said.

"Hopefully, this should narrow down the suspects behind the ghost appearances." Daphne frowned before noticing something and then added, "Speaking of which, I won't be surprised if Midge has something to with the ghost appearances."

"What makes you say that, Daphne?" Fred asked as they turned and saw a grumpy-looking Midge following her family around town.

"I don't know." Daphne admitted. "Though the fact that she doesn't look like she wanted to be here may provide a motive behind the ghost appearances."

"Maybe." Velma nodded thoughtfully. "However, if that's the case, why bother stealing the journals from the museum?"

"And don't forget how is it that she got her hands on the fertilizer if she doesn't live here." Shaggy added. "Like, given that she and her family came from out of town, I don't see any reason why they will be driving around with a bag of fertilizer in the car."

"Good point." Fred nodded as they made their way back into the ranch house.

Along the way into the house, the gang ran into Tawny, who was carrying some supplies as she made her way out.

"Hey guys, did you find something?" She asked.

"Yeah, we found that someone has sprayed the message 'Evil lives on' onto Dapper Jack's tombstone with UV powder." Velma stated. "Do you happen to know where anyone can get their hands on UV powder?"

"Why, yes I do." Tawny replied. "I use UV powder for decorating the interior of the barn for our upcoming barn dance, and anyone can get their hands on the stuff, as the spray can is stored in the barn's shed that is accessible to anyone."

"Ah, okay." Velma nodded, though she wasn't entirely comfortable with the answer, as the reply made no effort in narrowing down the list of suspects.

"Like, in any way, Tawny." Shaggy joined in. "You mind if we help out with the decorating for the barn dance?"

"Sure." Tawny shrugged. "Hopefully, you guys will find something at the barn dance that can help get to the bottom of this ghost appearance."

* * *

A short while later, the gang, minus Fred and Velma, who had to move around with crutches, were helping out with the decorations and the set-up for the barn dance.

"It looks just like the school dance we had at the Melrose Barn last year, only bigger in scale." Shaggy remarked as he and Scooby helped out getting the decorations up on the wall.

"Reah, not ro mention re buffet ris bigger rere." Scooby interjected.

"Oh yes, that too." Shaggy nodded as he licked his lips at the mention of food.

As they continue with the decorations, Fred and the girls were speaking with Tawny at the side.

"Past rodeo festivals usually have a sold-out crowd at the Sorghum Rodeo Arena." Tawny was saying. "It's a major attraction for people to come into town, especially when you have major music stars coming to perform before the rodeo itself."

"Well, hopefully the Ghost hasn't done his job in scaring away prospective tourists." Velma said.

"Which will certainly be bad news." Tawny nodded. "Word has it that the cash crunch that has hit the county has led to Sheriff Moore making plans to trim down the number of deputies on his force."

"And the rodeo festival is the main breadmaker for the county, right?" Fred raised an eyebrow.

"That's right." Tawny replied. "Without enough tourists coming to visit the town and watch the rodeo festival, the county can't afford many of its services and businesses won't even consider setting up shop here. In fact, if this trend continues, I'm afraid our town would end up like Gold City."

"You don't say." Daphne remarked.

"And what's worse is the fact that Daniel and I still have a long way to go to pay off the mortgage to the ranch house." Tawny continued. "If Daniel gets laid off, there's no way we will be able to pay off the mortgage in time, and though we have enough money in our savings account, we can certainly use a hand to help us pay off the mortgage."

"Which reminds me of Black Rattler Management." Fred frowned. "Has that company been offering you or Dusty to buy out your ranch house recently?"

"Not yet." Tawny shook her head. "And even if they offer to buy out our house, there's no way Daniel and I will accept their offer, even if that means us being able to pay down the mortgage ahead of time."

"Like, what's this mortgage troubles I'm hearing about?" Shaggy asked as he and Scooby joined them.

"Oh, it's something that's been in our minds since the downturn hit Tumbleweed County." Tawny said as they turned to Shaggy and Scooby. "A number of Daniels colleagues has already been laid off, but Sheriff Moore is afraid that more of his deputies will be let go soon and with not much job opportunities here in Tumbleweed, it's going to be tough for us to be able to pay off the mortgage."

"Yeah, it's really a shame." Velma nodded. "Especially because the town is quite the ideal quiet place to raise a family if you want to gain ranching experience."

"That's too bad." Shaggy said. "Sure wish there's something I can do to help."

At that remark, Fred and the girls thought of something and turned to each other. Then, they turned towards Tawny.

"Tawny, is the rodeo festival still accepting contestants?" Daphne asked.

"Well, normally, the festival would've been closed to new contestants by now." Tawny frowned. "However, this year, due to the downturn and a lot of ranchers moving out of town, the festival has plenty of vacancies to fill."

Seeing the look on Fred, Velma and Daphne's faces, Shaggy quickly raised his hands.

"Like, oh no." He quickly said as he shook his head. "You guys aren't honestly asking me to take part in the rodeo festival and ride on those wild horses, are you?"

"Shaggy, you're the only chance to help win the prize money so your cousins can pay off the mortgage to their ranch house." Daphne said.

"Especially given Fred and Velma's situations right now." Tawny said as she gestured towards Fred's broken arm and leg and Velma's sprained right leg.

"I know." Shaggy said. "But I don't want to end up like Fred and Velma while trying to tame a wild horse during the rodeo."

"Don't worry, Shag." Daphne said. "You'll do just fine."

"And besides, you did well in taming that horse back at the ranch when we had ranching lessons yesterday morning, Shag." Fred said before Shaggy had the chance to object.

"Yeah." Velma added. "You and Scooby went from not knowing much about ranching to an experienced rancher tells us that you guys can learn fast in ranching, so taking part in the rodeo and taming the wild horses shouldn't be a big issue for you, Shag."

"And even if the horse doesn't seem eager to have you on its saddle, Shaggy." Daphne added. "I'm sure Scooby can help talk some sense into it."

Seeing the expectant look on the faces of Fred and the girls, Shaggy turned to Tawny, then back to Scooby, who nodded, and then he sighed.

"Right then." He sighed before nodding. "Like, I'll take part in the rodeo so you can get the money you need to help pay off the mortgage, Tawny."

"Awesome, cousin!" Tawny smiled as she proceeded to hug Shaggy. "I always know that you'll always be willing to give a relative a needed hand."

Shaggy nodded again as he looked at his friends, who smiled confidently at him.

"Then, what are we waiting for?" He asked. "Let's get this show on the road!"

* * *

 **Please read and review!**


	12. The music performances and the rodeo

**Author's Note: For this chapter, I suggest going onto YouTube and search and listen to Uncle Pecos' performance of _Crambone_ , in addition to Ward Allen's _Maple Syrup_ and the clip from the original film with Buddy G's performance of _Live Life Like a Cowboy_.**

* * *

Chapter 12: The music performances and the rodeo

Later that night, the Shorghun Rodeo Arena was packed with the townsfolk and visiting tourists who haven't been scared off by the recent haunting in town.

Fred sat with the girls at the audience stands while Shaggy and Scooby were down at where the horses are at.

"You really think Shag can manage those horses in the rodeo, Freddie?" Daphne turned to him and asked.

"Relax, Daph." Fred smiled reassuringly. "Shaggy's a fast learner. If there's any city guy that can learn ranching skills fast, that's Shaggy."

"I hope you're right." Daphne nodded. "Because by the looks of things, those horses seems like the type that will throw off whoever rides on them."

"Well, as long as Cousin Norville holds onto the horse in the duration of the event, he should be fine." Tawny remarked.

It was then that the scene shifts towards Shaggy, who is now seated on the horse, though it was clear that he had no intention of taking any risks.

For starters, his face was covered by the facemask from a football helmet, which he had worn beneath his cowboy hat.

Also, his outfit was covered by the protective vest worn usually by baseball umpires and catchers, and he was wearing a pair of gloves that are thick enough so that he won't scrape them should he take a huge fall during the event.

Scooby had just finished tightening the belts strapping the protective vest onto Shaggy's body, though it was clear that even the protective equipment did nothing to make Shaggy less nervous.

"Rokay, Raggy." Scooby said after he tightened the last belt and made an okay gesture. "Rou're good ro go."

"Like, are you sure I can make it through the event without ending up like Fred or Velma, Scoob?" Shaggy swallowed.

"Ri'm sure rou ron't end up rike rem, Raggy." Scooby sighed. "Besides, rou're riding on Roldsnitch."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Shaggy said as he noted the brownish-gold fur of the horse he's riding on. "Since we did succeed in taming him back at the Lazy Q, Scoob, this should be a breeze."

He then chuckled before continuing, "Oh, what was I thinking, Scoob? All this worry for nothing."

"Reah." Scooby nodded as Shaggy proceeded to take off several of the protective equipment.

Shaggy had taken off the last of the protective equipment when the announcer's voice started echoing through the speakers.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The MC announced as he came into view through the giant screens on both sides of the performing stage, revealing a man dressed in a blue suit and wearing a dark blue cowboy hat and a pair of glasses. "Welcome to the 50th Annual Tumbleweed Rodeo Festival!"

There were cheers from the crowd before the MC continued, "Tumbleweed has came quite a long way since the first rodeo festival was held in 1921, and this year's golden jubilee of our annual festival will be marked, first with the guest performance of several of our top country stars of the day, followed by the rodeo itself and eventually, to end our special night, the County of Tumbleweed will like to invite you folks to the Lazy Q Ranch for the closing barn dance."

Several of the audience members applauded at the announcement, and a handful of them whistled.

Acknowledging the cheers from the crowd, the MC nodded before continuing, "And now, without further adieu, here's our first guest performer."

The MC then gestured towards the stage as a small, grey mouse with a white mustache and wearing a black cowboy hat, a red ascot and a pair of blue cowboy boots and holding a small, yellow guitar, walked onto the stage and then announced, "Uncle Pecos!"

The audience then applauded again as Pecos stopped in the middle of the stage, bowed and then prepared himself.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a certain house in the suburbs of Coolsville, Tom and Jerry were watching the rodeo show on television with the former having his arms folded.

The duo were accompanied by a large bucket of popcorn, and they looked on intently as Jerry's Uncle Pecos walked onto the stage.

* * *

After the clapping died down, Uncle Pecos began gliding his fingers on the strings and began.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." He began and his hands began flicking the strings with the beat as he tapped his foot. "Froggie went a-courtin' and he did ride, uh, crambone..."

"Froggie went a-courtin' and he did ride, uh, crambone..." Pecos continued as the audience began clapping their hands with the beat.

"Froggie went a-courtin' and he did ride, with a sword and a revolver by his side, uh, crambone." Pecos sang, and there was a small cheer and applause from the audience.

In the stands, Tawny turned to Fred and the girls and remarked, "He's quite the singer, isn't he?"

"For a mouse, his singing is quite impressive." Velma nodded.

Several minutes went by and Pecos was describing how a lily white duck come and swallowed Froggie up when disaster struck.

"...and swallowed him up, and, uh, crambone..." Pecos was just about to reach the final part of the song when one of his guitar strings snapped.

There was some silence from the crowd in the stands, as well as from Shaggy and Scooby, though there was also a few chuckles as well.

* * *

Back in their house in Coolsville, Tom and Jerry were watching the television live broadcast of the concert intently when one of Pecos' guitar strings snapped.

When that happened, Tom leaned closer towards the television and then burst out laughing while pointing at the screen.

However, before he knew it, Pecos reached through the screen and yanked out Tom's remaining whisker, causing the feline to yelp in pain once again.

* * *

"Wow." Fred remarked as he watched Pecos reached towards the television camera and managed to pull it out with a string in hand. "Did you girls see that?"

"I saw it." Velma nodded with a smile as Pecos began tuning his guitar. "But I don't believe it."

"Must be our eyes playing tricks on us." Tawny offered.

"Could be." Fred shrugged as Pecos resumed his performance.

"A little piece of cornbread layin' on a shelf, and uh, crambone..." Pecos continued. "A little piece of cornbread layin' on a shelf, and uh, crambone..."

"A little piece of cornbread layin' on a shelf, if you want it anymore..." It was then that Pecos began raising the pitch in his voice before concluding, "...you can sing...it...yourself, crambone!"

At that final note, the audience began their loud round of applause with several of them, Fred and the girls included, standing up as they clapped their hands and cheered.

As Pecos bowed, the MC announced, "There you have it, folks! Give a large round of applause to our first special guest performer, Uncle Pecos!"

The crowd continued with their clapping and cheering as the MC made the announcement, and some began to whistle.

Another few minutes went by before the crowd began to quiet down, and as Pecos exited the stage, the MC entered.

"Now, while our next guest performer prepares for his act on stage, here's a brief music video from up north in Canada." The MC said as he gestured towards the giant screens. "This music video gives us an overview on how the delicious maple syrup we enjoy with our waffles and pancakes is harvested from the maple trees in Canada."

At the mention of maple syrup, Shaggy and Scooby both leaned forward intently.

"Like, maple syrup?" Shaggy asked before he and Scooby licked their lips.

"You heard me." The MC smiled as he was replaced by a pitch black canvass on the screens. "And without further adieu, here's our Maple Sugar music video with fiddle music performed by Ward Allen."

The first three notes of Ward Allen's fiddle music began as the screen began depicting a trio of farmers on a horse-drawn sleigh, slowing making their way through the snow-covered landscape.

With the fiddle music continuing, which with the beat sounded like something to be played during a square dance, the screens continued to showcase the process of tapping into the maple trees to collect the sap, which is then processed into syrup in the plants.

Out of the people watching the short film, no one was watching it as intently as Shaggy and Scooby.

In fact, by the time the film ended, both Shaggy and Scooby's lips had become very wet as they think about the delicious syrup.

"Remind me to ask Tawny to whip up some pancakes and maple syrup for tomorrow morning's breakfast, Scoob." Shaggy turned to Scooby as the audience applauded following the end of the short film.

"Ri sure rill, Raggy." Scooby nodded before the screens began showing the stage again.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen." The MC announced as he stood in the middle of our stage. "Allow me to introduce our main guest performer for our 50th anniversary...Buffalo Billy!"

As the crowd cheered, the MC retreated backstage just as the lights shined onto Billy, Carol and Sharon, who then jumped and turned forward to face the crowd as the opening beat of the next music began.

The sisters began dancing with the beat of the music while Billy prepared to sing, and there were more cheers from the crowd as Billy walked forward into the spotlight on stage.

During this time, Old Man Zeke, with his glasses on, and Chef Williams were seated in the stands and both were surprised to see the sisters performing on stage.

"Wait a minute!" Williams blurted out. "You mean to tell me that those sisters are..."

"Billy's backup dancers!" Midge, who is seated in the row in front of them with her family, replied. "They might be clumsy, but they're really good."

"What do you know." Zeke remarked. "Those sisters who nearly caused that stampede two days ago at my ranch are good dancers."

It was then that Billy started rapping the lyrics of his new song _Live Life like a Cowboy_ as Sharon and Carol danced on.

"I'm ridin' down the trail on the Rocky Mountain top..." Billy began.

As he continued singing, several people in the stands started to cheer loudly.

"Billy sure is a talented singer for a boy his age." Yabba remarked as Billy continued with his singing on stage.

"Tell me about it, Yabba." Dusty nodded.

"...'cause I want to live life like a cowboy..." Billy sang. "...it is the life that lets me roaming free."

With Billy and the sisters rocking along and dancing with the music, Shaggy and Scooby both simultaneously began tapping their feet, nodding their heads before joining Billy and the sisters in dancing with the beat of the music.

As Billy continued to outline the reasons for a cowboy life in his song, some of the audience members began standing up from their seats and started dancing along with the lyrics and the beat of the music.

Eventually, as most of the audience members began rocking along with Billy's singing, the youngest Gunderson noticed Shaggy and Scooby dancing on the side and turned towards their direction and gestured towards them.

When Shaggy and Scooby made eye contact with Billy, he motioned them to come up and join him on the stage.

Excited by the offer to go on stage, Shaggy and Scooby shared looks with each other excitedly before rushing over onto the stage and joined Billy and the sisters in their dancing.

"...'cause I want to live life like a cowboy..." Billy sang as Shaggy and Scooby continued dancing with the beat, their feet dancing in a style reminisce of a country-type tap dance.

Eventually, all the focus on the screen went back to Billy as he finally concluded, "...it's the life that lets me roaming free!"

At the closing bars of the song, the audience burst into a large round of applause and cheered loudly.

As Billy and the sisters all bowed with Shaggy and Scooby tipping their cowboy hats as they retreated off the stage, the MC walked on.

"Ladies and gentlemen." He announced. "Buffalo Billy!"

The cheering from the crowd grew louder, and everyone in the stands stood up from their seats and continued to clap their hands.

* * *

Eventually came the opening parade that marks the beginning of the rodeo festival, and as the events main guest performer, Billy was invited to take part in the parade proccession riding on a horse.

However, as Shaggy and Scooby saw the paraders getting ready, both of them can see that Billy is still anxious about the prospect of riding on a horse, mainly by the way he was glancing at the animals.

Sharing looks with each other, Shaggy nodded towards Billy, and Scooby turned towards Billy before turning back to face Shaggy.

"Like, you know what to do, Scoob." He said before nodding towards Billy again.

Scooby nodded back before walking towards Billy, who then turned towards him as he joined him.

"Rou wanna ride?" Scooby asked the young boy.

Billy raised an eyebrow at the offer. "You're letting me ride on you for the parade?"

"Ro, Ri mean ron the horse." Scooby said as he nodded at the horse Billy will be riding on.

"Well, you know me when it comes to horses." Billy said. "I just can't get over that close call I had last summer when we had a stampede at my cousins place."

"Reer up." Scooby reassured him. "Ri will ride with rou if rou decide to ride on re horse."

"You will come with me?" Billy arched his eyebrows.

Scooby nodded. "Ri can rome with rou so rou can see there's nothing to re rafraid of."

"Okay, if you say so." Billy nodded and shrugged.

Scooby then turned back towards Shaggy, who then nodded at him, and then the Great Dane proceeded to help get Billy onto the horse.

* * *

A short while later, Scooby was accompanying Billy as they rode through the grounds as the crowd cheered and Billy was waving his hand at them.

In the stands, the Gundersons were relieved when they saw Billy riding comfortably on the horse with Scooby walking with them.

"I think Billy's getting a little more comfortable around the horses, don't you think?" Andrew asked as they watched Billy waving his hand and waved back at him.

"I told him that there's nothing to be afraid of, Dad." Debbie said. "It's just that he can't stop thinking about that stampede last summer when we were at Cousin Gibby's place."

"Well, it sure is good to see him getting past that." Midge nodded.

During this time, Shaggy made his way to his assigned horse for the bronco ride and managed to get on with help from a ranch hand and the sheriff.

"And now, as our procession exits, let's welcome our first bronco rider Norville Rogers!" The MC announced, and everyone in the stands cheered as Shaggy waved his hand.

Scooby then finished escorting the procession and turned back, in time to see Shaggy getting on the horse.

Seeing Shaggy waving his hand, Scooby was about to wave back at him when he noticed the horse Shaggy was getting onto.

The horse had golden fur, and it was then that Scooby remembered what the ranch hand Mr. Morrison said to them regarding the horses the previous day.

 _"Actually, his name is Goldsnitch."_ Mr. Morrison's voice echoed through his mind, pointing at the dark brown horse he and Scooby had called dibs on earlier. _"The gold fur horse has the name of Ironfinger and he's tough."_

Scooby's eyes widened in horror when he realized that Shaggy was, in fact, about to have his bronco ride on Ironfinger.

In panic, the Great Dane quickly rushed over towards Shaggy and waved his arms.

"Raggy, wait!" He exclaimed as he rushed over to Shaggy.

Watching Scooby from the stands, Fred and the girls all raised their eyebrows.

"What's with Scooby Doo?" Velma asked.

"I don't know." Fred shrugged. "Though he seems like he has something urgent to tell Shaggy."

"But what could that be?" Daphne asked.

Back at the horse stand, Shaggy was about to prepare for the bronco ride when he saw Scooby running towards him waving his arms frantically.

Seeing the panicky look on Scooby's face, Shaggy turned to Moore and asked, "Is Goldsnitch okay, sheriff?"

"He's okay, but he's not Goldsnitch." Moore responded. "His name is Ironfinger, but most people call him 'Widow-maker', because he's tough as nails."

Before Shaggy had time to widen his eyes, Moore suddenly whistled loudly, causing the horse to suddenly neigh loudy and started leaping back and forth uncontrollably.

Scooby reached the horse stand just before Ironfinger managed to kick the gate door open, forcing him to jump to the side as Shaggy held onto the horse frantically.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as he held on. "Woah!"

The horse continued to ignore Shaggy as it leaped forward aggressively, snorting and neighing loudly.

"Calm down!" Shaggy continued in a panicking tone. "Woah! Ye-haw! Calm!"

As Shaggy struggled to rein in control of the horse, the audience in the stands began to look nervous at the scene unfolding in front of them when it became clear that Shaggy was having trouble controlling the horse.

Scooby covered his eyes in fright while the Gundersons looked stunned, and even Debbie, who up until that point, wasn't paying much attention to the show, was starting to look worried as Shaggy continued with the wild bronco ride.

"Shaggy can't control that horse!" Daphne said. "That horse is sure going to try to throw him off!"

"Oh, I can't look." Velma added as she covered her eyes.

In spite of the horse's best efforts, Shaggy continued to hang on as he continued to shout.

"Easy there, Ironfinger!" He exclaimed. "Calm down! Woah, boy!"

As the minutes went by, everyone in the stands started to notice that the horse was becoming less aggressive in its leaping and snorting as it went by.

"Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing?" Tawny asked.

"I'm seeing it, but I don't believe it!" Fred said.

Velma uncovered her eyes and looked forward, and her eyes widened.

"Shaggy's trying to talk some sense into that horse!" She said. "And it seems to me working!"

Sure enough, as Velma was speaking, Ironfinger was becoming less aggressive in its leaping around, and Shaggy was increasingly having no need to spend a lot of effort trying to hold.

"Easy does it, boy." He said as he began to relax. "That's right."

Eventually, the horse finally settled down and stopped its leaping, leading to the crowd to go wild as they stood in the middle of the arena.

The horse then turned its head towards Shaggy and the previous deadpan expression on its face turned into a huge smile, and Shaggy smiled back as he rubbed its neck.

"Let's give a large round of applause to Norville Rogers!" The MC announced.

As the crowd continued to go wild, Fred, Scooby and the girls all stood up and cheered loudly.

"Way to go, Shaggy!" Daphne shouted.

"That's my cousin!" Tawny smiled proudly.

As everyone in the stands cheered and clapped, Billy turned and noticed his sister Debbie was also clapping her hands with a clearly impressed look on his face.

"Changed your mind about this trip, sis?" He asked as he elbowed her.

Turning to her brother, Debbie smiled, "You bet."

The crowd continued with the cheering and whistling as Shaggy looked around, took off his cowboy hat and started bowing.

"Thank you!" He shouted. "Thank you!"

* * *

 **Please read and review!**


	13. The stampede and cattle rustlers

Chapter 13: The stampede and an encounter with cattle rustlers

As the cheers coming from the crowd dies down, Shaggy made his way back to his friends, who all stood up as he approached them

"You did it, Shag." Daphne smiled as Shaggy returned. "You've actually made it through the bronco ride and won first place!"

"Nothing I can't handle, Daph." Shaggy tipped his cowboy hat. "Like, I wasn't quite sure if I was able to make it, and-"

"Oh, there's nothing to worry about, Cousin." Tawny cut in as she wrapped her arms around Shaggy. "You made it through, and that's what matters now."

"I suppose you're right." Shaggy nodded as he turned to Tawny. "At least now we can help save your ranch."

Everyone else smiled, but the smiles were short-lived when the rest of the crowd in the stands suddenly gasped and went silent as an all-too familiar laughter hollers through the stadium.

"Oh, please don't tell me..." Velma was about to say, only for a couple of shots to be fired into the air.

Turning to look, the gang all saw Dapper Jack's Ghost standing at the south end of the stadium on his horse with his two pistols in hand.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as he pointed towards the ghost. "It's him!"

As Dapper Jack's Ghost makes his way through the stadium and continues to fire fiery shots, the crowd in the stands began to flee in panic.

Also panicking by the Ghost appearances were cattle and the remaining horses that were to take part in the bronco ride, and as the ghost continue to ravage through the stadium, several shadowed figures moved in to unlock the fence containing the horses and cattle.

The horses and cattle, now freed from the fences containing them, moved quick to ravage towards the fields north of the stadium.

As that was happening, Fred said, "Alright, gang. Now's the perfect time for us to set up our trap for the ghost!"

"Right." Velma nodded. "We better hurry, because-!"

"Stampede!" The sheriff suddenly rushed over. "We've got a stampede at the north side with horses and cattle running amok towards the fields at the north!"

"Jeepers!" Daphne exclaimed. "Is there anyone going over to try to contain the stampede?"

"I've got men down at the northern fields to try to contain the animals." Moore replied. "However, we're short on manpower."

Eying the Ghost catching sight of them in the stands, Shaggy pointed towards him and shouted, "Like, and the Ghost is right there and is certain to roast us if we don't get out of here!"

The minute Shaggy finished his sentence, the Ghost aimed his pistol towards them and fired a shot.

The group moved quick to get out of the way just as flames sailed over and landed on the seats they were seated at just a minute ago.

With the group in sight, the Ghost continued to holler and laughs evilly as he menacingly pursues the group.

During the course of the chase, the group splits up and before anyone knew it, the Ghost was now chasing Shaggy and Scooby.

Seeing the Ghost chasing after them, Shaggy turned to Scooby and exclaimed, "Why is it that every time we split up, those spooks always comes after us, Scoob?"

"Ri don't row, Raggy." Scooby shook his head. "Ri don't row."

As Shaggy and Scooby continued running through the stadium with the Ghost hot on their heels, Fred and the girls were wasting no time setting up their trap.

"The net's all set, Freddie." Daphne said. "Are you sure this is gonna work?"

"Don't worry, Daph." Fred said reassuringly. "When I give the signal, you and Velma just need to pull the lever we've had set up near the tunnel entrance for the net to work, once Shag and Scooby had lured the Ghost here."

Velma and Daphne both nodded and set out to prepare to get the trap ready as they watched the Ghost continuing to relentlessly chase Shaggy and Scooby through the grounds of the stadium.

Shaggy and Scooby continued with their running around the stadium, clearly wanting to have the chase wrapped up.

"He sure doesn't give up, doesn't he, Scoob?" Shaggy remarked as he noted the Ghost relentlessly chasing them.

"Re sure roesn't." Scooby shook his head. "Ri hope Red rand re girls rave something ready."

Several minutes went by before Shaggy and Scooby were running near the stands and towards the tunnel where Daphne and Velma were waiting with the net ready to be activated, and Fred was watching the Ghost relentlessly pursuing Shaggy and Scooby through his binoculars.

Noting that the trio getting closer to the tunnel, Fred turned towards the girls and waved his hand. _Show time_.

Seeing Fred's signal, Daphne and Velma both nodded before the former proceeded to pull a lever down.

The net swoop down, just as Shaggy and Scooby cleared the way. The duo ducked down as the net swooped over their heads, and before they knew it, the Ghost ended up getting caught in the net.

"Yes!" Fred pumped his fist in victory as the others all cheered at the sight. "We've caught him!"

However, their relief was short-lived when the Ghost pulled out his pistol and taking aim at the nearby wall, fired several shots that resulted in a large hole in the net.

With the Ghost freeing himself from the net, Daphne and Velma shared looks with each other before they turned to Fred.

"Didn't see that coming." Fred scratched his head as the smile on his face dropped, and Velma only rolled her eyes in response.

The Ghost growled and laughed menacingly at the gang after he freed himself from the net and marched towards them with the pistol in hand.

Swiftly, Fred and Velma both leaped onto Scooby's back and Shaggy began turning Scooby's tail as if it was a hand crank used for starting a Ford Model T.

Then, with Fred and Velma holding onto his collar, Scooby took off running like a motorcycle with Shaggy, Tawny and Daphne quickly following suit as the Ghost gave chase.

The Ghost continued to chase the gang around the stadium, laughing and firing shots from his pistol into the air wildly as he went.

Several more minutes went by before the Ghost chased the gang out of the stadium, which was when he stopped at a mural.

The mural depicts several farmers hard at work tending to the crops on a field, and it was clear that the farmers must've been sweating in the mural, as the sun in the background certainly looked bright and fierce.

The Ghost growled in annoyance as he looked around, and seeing that his targets were nowhere to be seen, he fired a couple more shots into the nighttime sky before whistling for his horse, hopped onto it and rode off.

Once the Ghost was completely out of view, the "farmers" and one of the spotted "horses" that is depicted on the mural looked up, revealing themselves to be Shaggy, Tawny, Daphne and Scooby in disguise.

Shaggy was the first to look around, and when he was sure that the Ghost was nowhere to be seen, he turned back towards the others and nodded.

"Like, the coast is clear, gang." He announced.

No sooner did Shaggy made the announcement did Fred and Velma emerge from their hiding spots - in the form of the stack of hay that was conveniently placed by the mural and appeared to be part of the wall painting.

"That was a close one if you ask me." Daphne said as she wiped her forehead in relief.

"Too close if you ask me." Velma nodded.

However, before she could continue, they gang heard another set of footsteps running over to where they were at.

Turning towards where the footsteps were coming from, the gang all saw Buffalo Billy running towards them.

"Buffalo Billy!" Daphne exclaimed as the talented young singer and rapper stopped in front of them.

"Hey..." Billy said as he struggled to catch his breath. "I was hoping...that I'd find someone...that is still at...the stadium."

"What's the problem?" Fred asked.

"My family are at the north end of the stadium trying to get a ride back to the hotel." Billy explained. "However, my mother remembered that she had left our camera at the stands and went with me to retrieve it, but it was nowhere to be seen."

"Like, you tried finding the stadium people to see if your camera may be at the lost and found?" Shaggy asked.

"We did." Billy replied. "Though we accidentally split up during the rush to leave and I got lost and couldn't find anybody who knows where the lost and found is at."

At the mention of the lost and found, Tawny's eyes lit up when she remembered something.

"I believe I know where the lost and found is at." She said. "And...say, did you said, 'north side'?"

"Yeah, I did." Billy nodded. "Why?"

"That's where the stampede is at right now." Daphne said. "Your family could be in danger if they don't get out of there right now."

"Okay, Norville, Scooby, you guys come with me and Billy." Tawny quickly said. "We'll go try to find the lost and found and relieve Daniel, who no doubt must be having a hard time trying to rein in the stampede."

"What about the rest of us?" Velma asked.

"You guys stay put." Daphne said. "I'm sure that with your broken arm and legs, Velma, there's no way you and Fred are in conditions to move around while a stampede is taking place, and I'm gonna look after you guys while they're gone."

"Sounds good with us." Tawny said before turning to Shaggy and Scooby. "Let's go!"

Shaggy and Scooby both nodded before the four quickly took off for the north end of the stadium, leaving Daphne behind with Fred and Velma.

"In the meantime, we need to think of something to do now that the Ghost of Dapper Jack's still on the loose, Freddie." Daphne said.

"Actually, there's nothing much we need to do now regarding Dapper Jack's Ghost, Daphne." Velma said.

"What do you mean by that, Velms?" Daphne raised an eyebrow.

"Before Fred set the trap up, he and I planned ahead." Velma explained. "As a matter a fact, we were kinda expecting Dapper Jack's Ghost to cut through the net the way he did earlier."

"So what did you guys do?" Daphne asked.

Before Velma could answer, the trio heard several twigs being stepped on from the darkness on the other end of the wall.

"Listen." Fred said in a hushed, whispered tone. "Do you girls hear that?"

"Yes." Daphne nodded. "It's coming from the fields at the other side of the stand. Come on!"

Soon, the trio were hiding behind the bushes separating the dirt road surrounding the outside of the stadium stands from the field.

There were some mooing coming from the cattle on the field, in addition to a couple of shadowed figures standing and walking around amongst the cattle.

"This is quite the set up cooked up by the boss." One of the men can be heard saying. "Using Dapper Jack's Ghost to create a stampede and divert all the attention to the north side while we move in to get the cattle here in the south!"

"You said it, Doug." The second man nodded. "Thanks to the boss, there's no way anyone's gonna find out on our racket!"

Overhearing the conversation between the two men, Fred and the girls turned towards each other.

"Cattle rustlers!" Velma exclaimed. "We've gotta stop 'em!"

"But how?" Daphne asked. "There's two of them, and while there's three of us, both you and Freddie are on crutches, Velma. There's no way we can stop them hands on."

"We don't need to confront them." Fred said. "We just need something that will cause the cattle to panic."

"You mean another stampede?" Daphne asked.

"Exactly." Fred nodded. "Now, we just need to do something to get the cattle moving and catch those cattle rustlers off guard."

* * *

Meanwhile, Shaggy, Scooby, Tawny and Billy wasted no time getting back to the north end of the stadium not long after recovering Midge's camera at the unlocked lost and found booth.

When they got to where the rides were at, Midge was waiting for them.

"Oh, Billy!" Midge said as Billy ran to him.

"Mom!" Billy exclaimed. "Where are Dad and Debbie?"

"I told them to go without me and that we'll meet up with them in the hotel once you come back." Midge said. "Were you able to find the lost and found?"

"I did, thanks to Miss Rogers here." Billy nodded as he gestured at Tawny before holding up the camera and added, "And I believe that this camera's ours."

"Oh, thank you very much, Miss Rogers." Midge smiled as she took the camera from Billy and turned to Tawny.

"Ah, no worries, Mrs. Gunderson." Tawny waved a hand. "I'm just happy to help."

It was then that Shaggy and Scooby turned towards the field at the north side of the stadium and noticed something.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed. "Is that SUV carrying Mr. Gunderson and your sister, Billy?"

"Huh?" The other three turned towards where Shaggy and Scooby were looking at and widened their eyes.

"Oh no!" Midge exclaimed. "That's the SUV shuttle offered by Larry the ranch hand to drive Debbie and Andy back to the hotel! It's stuck in the middle of the field!"

"And those cattles are stampeding their way towards them!" Tawny exclaimed in horror.

It was then that Dusty and Yabba rushed over to them.

"Daniel!" Shaggy exclaimed. "Like, aren't you guys supposed to be trying to stop the cattle?"

"We've tried everything." Dusty replied as he tried to catch his breath. "Whistling, singing...everything! So far, it hasn't worked."

"Rhat we can see." Scooby nodded towards the stampede of cattle.

"Say, aren't there supposed to be other deputies working with you to calm the stampede, Daniel?" Tawny asked.

"I don't know where did everybody went." Dusty shrugged. "When the sheriff raised the alarm about the stampede, only Yabba and I came forward and no one else did."

"No wonder the stampede hasn't calmed down." Shaggy nodded. "Like, I wonder where did everybody went."

"Beats me." Yabba replied. "But right now, we've got that SUV stuck in the middle of the field with engine troubles with the stampede heading right their way!"

"Rot ir Ri ran help it!" Scooby exclaimed.

* * *

Back on the field, Larry was frantically trying to get the engine to restart after the SUV ended up stopping in the middle of the field.

"What do you mean this thing's having engine troubles?" Mr. Gunderson asked panickingly. "We've got to move right now before we get trampled over by the cattle coming our way!"

"I'm trying!" Larry gritted his teeth as he tried to restart the car engine to no avail.

"Dad!" Debbie exclaimed. "They're coming towards us fast!"

"I know, darling." Andrew nodded before turning to Larry and added, "Isn't there something we can do to get out of the way?"

"When it's dark outside, there's no way we can find our way out of the field without getting trampled over by the cattle." Larry shook his head. "And this blasted engine just decided to conk out on us at this very moment."

The trio in the SUV then turned towards the back where the crowd of cattle was heading straight their way, and it was clear that the cattle was not going to change direction.

That is, until two figures on a horse started rushing over into the fray.

"What the?" Andrew exclaimed when he noticed the two figures on the horse. "Does those two people realize that they're heading straight into the stampede zone?"

"Wait a minute." Debbie said as she squinted her eyes and recognized one of the figures on the horse. "Is that Billy?"

Sure enough, Billy and Scooby were riding on the horse and were speeding their way towards the SUV.

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Billy asked as he held onto the saddle.

"Ri'm not sure." Scooby shook his head. "But ro rou got re better ridea?"

"Let's hope this plan of yours works." Billy replied.

Scooby nodded before turning towards the cattle and started growling and barking.

No sooner did Yabba, Shaggy and Dusty joined in on separate horses and doing barking on their own did the cattle in the stampede started to calm down and slow down.

Watching the action unfold from outside the field, Tawny turned to Midge as she said, "It's working! The cattle is slowing down!"

"Oh, thank goodness!" Midge said in relief as the cattle began following Scooby and Billy's direction, moving away from the SUV and gradually coming to a completely stop.

Once the cattle came to a complete stop and started feeding on the grass on the field, the three horses all stopped and Shaggy hopped off.

"You did it, Scoob!" Shaggy said as he raised his hand. "You stopped the stampede!"

"Re-haw!" Scooby exclaimed as he high-fived Shaggy while Billy went to hug his father and sister.

"Oh, I'm just glad that you guys are alright." Billy said in relief as they did a group hug.

"And I'm glad to see that you finally got over your fear of horses, Bill." Debbie added as she hugged her younger brother.

* * *

Meanwhile, over at the south side of the stadium, the cattle rustlers were at work trying to get the cattle onto the truck.

"Hurry now, Doug." The second man said. "We need to get the cattle onto the truck before the stampede at the north dies down."

"Right, and once that dies down and the folks get wise around here, we'll be long gone by now, Andy." Doug replied.

As the two cattle rustlers continued with their talking, Fred and the girls shared looks with each other.

"You girls ready?" Fred whispered with a peashooter in hand.

Velma and Daphne both nodded as they silently held up their peashooters.

Fred nodded back before turning towards the field and placed the toy at his mouth and took aim.

One of the cattle was minding its own business and feeding on the grass when it suddenly felt a shot to its rear. Mooing, the cattle then moved to a different position.

Noting that the cattle had moved, Fred glanced at the girls, nodded, and then fired another shot.

The cattle, upon getting hit by the pebble Fred had fired from the peashooter, started to move again.

Seeing what Fred is trying to do, Velma and Daphne both soon joined in in firing pebbles at the various cattle, causing them to start moving around and not in the direction the cattle rustlers wanted them to.

"Hey, what's going on?" Andy asked as the cattle started moving fastly.

"Hey!" Doug quickly shouted before whistling as they tried to calm the cattle down.

Seeing that the cattle has gradually started to stampede, Fred and the girls shared looks with each other triumphantly.

However, it was that very minute that the trio heard what sounded like a rifle being loaded right behind them.

"Snooping around, huh?" The figure holding the rifle and taking aim at the trio asked.

Fred and the girls, at the realization of what was right behind them, widened their eyes before they turned around and slowly raised their arms.

* * *

 **Uh oh. What's going to happen next?**

 **Stay tuned, and please read and review!**


	14. The captures and at the barn

Chapter 14: The captures and at the barn

Back at the north end of the stadium, the sheriff had joined the group as the other ranch hands moved in to settle the cattle back to where they were supposed to be at.

"The cattle must've been scared badly by Dapper Jack's Ghost." Rafe remarked.

"Yeah, they sure are." Tawny nodded. "Though do you know what could've caused the stampede in the first place?"

"Best guess is that someone took advantage of the ghost appearance and released them from the hold." Dusty surmised. "In order to divert attention to what was really going down here at the stadium."

"What are you suggesting, Deputy Dusty?" Rafe raised an eyebrow.

Before Dusty could reply, Scooby and his brother were sniffing the ground and the former started growling.

"What is it, Scoob?" Shaggy asked as Scooby started growling.

"I think Scoob's smelled a rat." Yabba said, judging the furious expression on Scooby's face.

"Ri did." Scooby growled as he nodded at a handkerchief he had sniffed out. "Ri did."

"Can you trace the scent, Scoob?" Shaggy kneeled down to take a look at the handkerchief.

"Ri can." Scooby nodded as he sniffed the air before his tail pointed towards the south end and added, "Rhat way."

Shaggy nodded back and got up, though as he and Scooby were about to make their way towards the south end, Yabba stopped them.

"Wait." He said as he took a sniff of the handkerchief. "I smell...gunpowder!"

"Gunpowder?" Dusty asked as Scooby took another sniff before nodding in confirmation of Yabba's findings. "That means our cattle rustlers must be armed."

As Dusty made the remark, Tawny remembered something.

"Say, didn't we leave Daphne behind with Fred and Velma at the south end after getting away from the Ghost when Billy asked for help from us?" She asked.

At that remark, Shaggy and Scooby's eyes both widened.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed. "If those armed cattle rustlers are indeed at the south side of the stadium, then Fred and the girls are in great danger!"

"Then let's get moving!" Rafe urged. "Before those cattle rustlers decides to use your friends as targets."

* * *

Back at the south side of the stadium, it didn't take long for Doug and Andy to calm down the cattle and move in quick to assist the third racketeer in stopping Fred and the girls in their tracks.

"You three kids got some nerve snoopin' around here." The third racketeer sneered as they kept their rifles fixed onto Fred and the girls. "Ain't that right, boys?"

"You said it, Jason." Doug nodded. "Three meddling kids trying to play the hero. Almost like them three stooges."

"Yep." Jason nodded in agreement before turning towards Fred and the girls and added, "Too bad this ain't a comedy show."

"It was a neat set up, wasn't it?" Fred glared at the racketeers. "You guys unleashing the cattle and horses at the north end, causing them to stampede, and taking advantage of the chaos you guys created, you took your sweet time making your way to the south end to rustle some cattle."

"While everyone else is occupied by the stampede at the north side." Velma added.

"For kids your age, your deduction ain't bad." Andy snorted.

"Too bad kids like you don't know when to mind your own business." Doug sneered.

"Unfortunately, it's our business when your actions cost the townsfolk their livelihoods." Daphne narrowed her eyes. "Especially a cousin of our friends, who's having trouble paying down the mortgage of their ranch house and is barely scraping by on the salary of a sheriff's deputy."

"Huh." Jason snorted. "So we've seen. It's their problem for choosing this town to settle down in, not ours."

"Yeah." Andy agreed. "In a frontier town like Tumbleweed, only the tough has the capability to survive."

"Even if that means cheating the more deserving people out of the way in the process?" Fred frowned.

"Hey, it's a tough business." Andy shrugged. "There's no time for weak-minded people, civility and sportsmanship when everyone needs to survive in tough times. Those are only for losers."

"And besides, we've offered them generous compensation if they allow us to buy out their homes and ranches." Doug added. "It's their problem for refusing our generous offers."

"So Black Rattler Management hires you boys to disrupt the town's businesses, including participating in acts of cattle rustling, in order to make the townsfolk accept your 'generous' offers in buying out the whole town?" Fred glared.

"They didn't hire us." Jason replied. "We're Black Rattler Management."

"That explains a lot." Velma rolled her eyes.

"Indeed it does, kiddo." Andy smirked before readying his rifle and added, "Too bad you kids ain't gonna be around much longer to witness us buying out the whole town and turning it into a themed resort town that is more profitable."

"At the expense of the whole town losing its history, culture and traditional way of life." Daphne glared.

"Well, you can't make huge profits out of dying cultural practices." Andy shrugged.

The three cattle rustlers then prepare to pull the trigger on their rifles, and Fred and the girls quickly squeezed their eyes shut.

The minute the trio squeezed their eyes shut, three shots rang out and silence fell.

Some moments went by before Daphne opened an eye, and what she saw made her gasp in disbelief.

The three cattle rustlers were still standing in front of them, but their rifles had fallen to the ground as they all shook their hands and winced in pain.

Elbowing her friends, who opened their eyes, they saw that the rifles held by the cattle rustlers weren't fired, judging from the lack of smoke emerging from the gun barrel of the rifles.

Turning and looking, Fred and the girls saw two shadowed cowboys on a horse, each holding a gun that still has smoke emerging from the barrel.

Also with the two shadowed cowboys were more of the townsfolk on horses and several of them, including Dusty and the sheriff, were armed with their own rifles.

As it turned out, it was Scooby who fired the first two shots with Shaggy firing the third shot that simultaneously disarmed the three thugs.

"Like, don't even think about it!" Shaggy said after he and Scooby huffed into the barrel to dissipate the smoke.

The three cattle rustlers turned and looked, seeing Shaggy and Scooby getting off their horse and walking towards them.

"How did you...?" Andy asked angrily as he tried to reach for his rifle.

Just as he was about to pick it up, Daphne walked over and kicked the rifle away from him.

"I don't think so." She said to Andy with her arms folded.

"We've had practice." Shaggy explained as Dusty, Yabba and Rafe moved in, only for the former two to narrow their eyes at the sight of the three cattle rustlers.

"Andy, Jason and Doug." Dusty narrowed his eyes. "I should've figured that you three were as dirty as those involved in the Black Sox Scandal of '19."

"Those three were your fellow deputies, Daniel?" Tawny asked.

"They used to be." Yabba frowned as he and Daniel handcuffed the trio. "They were all let go as a result of the budget cutbacks by Sheriff Moore."

"And turns out I made the right decision in doing so." Rafe nodded as he glared at the three cattle rustlers. "You three were disgraces to the badge!"

"Curses!" Andy muttered as the three cattle rustlers were each grabbed by a member of the posse and taken away.

As the three racketeers were taken away, Shaggy, Scooby, Dusty, Yabba and Tawny rushed over to Fred and the girls.

"Are you guys alright?" Tawny asked in concern.

"Well, other than my broken arm and me and Velma's broken legs, we're okay." Fred said as he and Velma were given back their crutches.

"Like, good thing we all got here in the nick of time." Shaggy added. "Who knows what would've happened if Scoob and I didn't fired the shots that disarmed them."

"And speaking of which, those were good shots, guys." Velma said as they turned to Shaggy and Scooby.

"Yeah." Fred agreed. "How did you guys learn to shoot sharp like that so fast?"

Shaggy and Scooby shared looks with each other before the former replied, "Let's just say that Pops been having me enrolled in firearm training classes at the police academy since our mix-up with that former chemistry teacher impersonating Ms. Christopherson."

"Not to mention that Norville's got practice through his pranks on Maggie when they were younger." Dusty added.

* * *

A short while later, the group made their way to the barn house for the after-festival barn dance, which was at present under way.

There was a buffet and as usual, Shaggy and Scooby first dropped by the buffet table to help themselves to some snacks not long after the former received the first place prize money and first thing Shaggy did was giving the trophy and the money to Tawny.

As the duo sampled some snacks at the buffet table, Dusty and Yabba joined Fred and the girls after a trip back to the sheriff's office in town.

"So?" Fred asked when the two lawmen joined them.

"Those three claims to know nothing on who is pulling the strings in all of this mess." Dusty shook his head. "Only that they were told to release the cattle and bronco at the north end and take advantage of the chaos caused by the Ghost appearance and steal the cattle at the south and that they know nothing about the missing journals."

"They're lying." Yabba added. "I can tell."

"Perhaps they are, and perhaps they aren't." Velma said. "Either way, we're a step closer to finding out who the Ghost really is."

"But the Ghost did get away from your trap." Tawny pointed out as she held onto the trophy and prize money.

"Exactly, but the Ghost left behind a valuable clue that will help us know who's really behind it." Fred said.

At that remark, Daphne arched her eyebrows, but before she could say something, Velma nodded at the nearby light bulb.

At first, the redhead didn't quite get the reference until she noticed that the light bulb is emitting purple rays and then she nodded.

"Right." Daphne nodded before she and Velma made their way to under the UV light bulb.

As the duo stood under the UV light bulb, Shaggy and Scooby joined Tawny, Fred, Yabba and Dusty.

"Since the Ghost managed to evade capture, what's the plan, Fred?" Shaggy asked. "Like, I take it that the three stooges we caught know nothing about the ghost, eh?"

"They claim that they don't, Shag." Fred replied. "But that doesn't mean we're nowhere close to finding out who the Ghost really is."

"What do you mean by that, Fred?" Shaggy raised an eyebrow.

"While we were setting things up here for the barn dance, prior to the rodeo, one of the ranch hands asked me to help him out with some stuff at the Lazy Q." Fred explained. "You know, with my broken arm and leg, the only thing I was able to do was help Kyle and Larry sort the tools used for ranching."

"And?" Dusty asked.

"During this time, I felt the need to go use the washroom and I asked Kyle if I can go relieve myself in the ranch house." Fred continued. "And he told me to go ahead, and it was during my way to the washroom that I happened to pass by the study room and decided to take a look around."

"Did you see anything?" Tawny asked.

"I did." Fred nodded. "Now, I didn't have much time to actually take a closer look as to what was in the study room, as Larry soon decided to join me in the ranch house and I told him that I got a little lost finding the washroom. However, one thing I did have a good look at was a diploma awarded by UCLA hanging on the wall of the study room."

"Re diploma?" Scooby piped up.

"That's right, and get this." Fred continued. "It was a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry, and remember the green flames that were fired from the Ghost's pistol?"

"Oh yeah, like, they were the result of a chemical reaction of certain chemicals mixed with the green crystal fertilizer." Shaggy snapped his fingers.

"Exactly." Fred nodded.

Before the blonde could continue, Larry and Kyle made their way into the barn upon returning from securing the cattle.

"Hey guys." Kyle smiled.

"Hey." Dusty said in greeting. "The cattle gave you guys trouble?"

"Nope." Larry shook his head. "Though they were clearly spooked by the Ghost's appearances."

"Yeah." Kyle nodded as he walked towards Velma and Daphne. "It'll be great if we can get to the bottom on who's been pulling the Ghost appearances."

"You don't say." Velma said in response, and the ranch hand turned towards her.

"What do you mean?" Kyle raised an eyebrow.

"See for yourself." Daphne simply said before nodding at Tawny, who immediately flipped the main light switch to the barn, plunging the whole barn into darkness, minus the purple rays emitting from the UV light bulb.

Also providing an unexpected source of light in the dark barn was Kyle, who was glowing purple from the UV rays.

"That's right, everyone." Fred announced as everyone else in the room looked on in shock. "The man behind the Ghost of Dapper Jack was none other than Kyle Langstorm."

"Me, the Ghost of Dapper Jack?" Kyle laughed. "That's absurd!"

"Then, you'll be pleased to know that prior to the Ghost crashing the rodeo festival, Fred and I took the liberty of coating the net with UV powder, similar to the ones used in the 'Evil Lives On' message we found at Dapper Jack's grave." Velma said.

"And the fact that you're glowing at this very moment meant that you were the one caught in the net while moonlighting out there as the Ghost of Dapper Jack." Fred added as Dusty and Yabba quickly moved in.

Realizing that the game is up, Kyle motioned to make a run from it all, only for Yabba and Dusty to stop and restrain him.

"Oh no you don't." Dusty growled as he moved quick to handcuff the ranch hand.

As Kyle was handcuffed, he turned towards Fred and said angrily, "How did you know it was me?"

"Well, earlier in the afternoon, when I was helping you guys out in sorting the tools and I needed to go into the ranch house to use the washroom, I happened upon your study room and saw the chemistry diploma awarded to you by UCLA hung on the wall." Fred said.

"And we all know that whoever the Ghost was used pistols to shoot green flames produced as a result of mixing certain chemicals with green crystal fertilizer, which only someone with a chemistry degree would have knowledge of doing." Daphne added.

Kyle was about to respond when Shaggy and Scooby both started glaring at him, and for some reason, the glare from the normally-chicken-hearted duo unnerved the ranch hand.

As he was being taken away by Dusty and Yabba, Kyle finally confessed, "Okay, it was me. But I'm not the one who planned this whole mess. In fact, I was promised a lucrative sum as an equal partner once Black Rattler Management buys up the whole town and turns it into a resort, which would help me with my gambling debts..."

The rest of his sentence was muffled out as Kyle was carried out of the barn, and Velma and Daphne moved to join the others.

"Kyle's right." Velma said. "The mastermind behind all of this mess is still at large."

"He was only a pawn." Shaggy agreed. "Like, just like those three cattle rustlers we've caught earlier."

"Exactly." Fred nodded. "And I know just the place where we can find the clues we need to solve this mystery."

* * *

 **Please read and review!**


	15. The journals and final showdown

Chapter 15: The journals and final showdown

A short while later, the gang were in Kyle's study room in the ranch house.

"We all know that Kyle wasn't acting alone in this mess." Dusty was saying after he joined them in the ranch house. "Though I do wonder how is it that you were able to figure that his study is the best place for us to find out the mastermind behind this whole mess, Fred?"

"Call it a hunch." Fred responded as they searched through the study room. "Someone's gone through great lengths to hide Dapper Jack and Sheriff Carmichael's journals, which conveniently vanished as Dapper Jack's 'ghost' was tearing through the town."

"And you guys really think that this place is where we could find the missing journals?" Tawny asked.

"It's our best bet." Velma responded.

The others continued with the search around the study room, which was briefly paused when Scooby and Yabba sniffed out a mask and a couple of pistols.

"Here are the mask and the pistols Kyle used for his Dapper Jack disguise." Daphne said as the Doos pulled the three items out from their hiding spots.

"But no sign of the missing journals yet." Shaggy added as he searched through the closet.

Fred frowned as he struggled his way to the desk, whereupon he decided to take a closer look at whatever might be inside the drawers.

"I wonder what does Kyle have here in the desk drawer?" He wondered.

As the blonde began searching through the desk drawers, the others were having a difficult time finding the journals.

"Looks like your hunch might be wrong, Velma." Tawny observed as Daphne raised her arms in frustration.

"Yeah." Velma sighed as she turned towards Fred and frowned. "There's nothing around here that may suggest that the missing journals are stashed in Kyle's study room."

"I guess we'll have to worry about the missing journals later on, once we find out who the mastermind behind this whole mess really is." Yabba said.

The others all nodded reluctantly and sighed, during which Daphne decided to walk over to Kyle's bed and sit down.

As she sat down on Kyle's bed, though, she paused and frowned when she felt the bedding hit something hard underneath.

"Say..." Daphne frowned when she felt something hard under the bed. "There's something under the bed here, gang."

The others all arched their eyebrows as Shaggy and the Doo brothers walked over to the bed, where Scooby leaned down at the side of the bed and took a peek under with Yabba joining in.

"It looks like a chest of some sort." Yabba said after he and his brother got a closer look.

"A chest?" Velma asked. "What for?"

"Like, I think we're about to find out." Shaggy said as they watched the two Great Danes pull the chest out from under the bed.

As soon as the two dogs pulled the chest out from under the bed, Dusty and Daphne moved in to open the chest, which revealed two thick books inside.

"Found it!" Daphne exclaimed as she and Dusty pulled out the two books from the chest, revealing Dapper Jack's journal and Carmichael's diary.

Shaggy and Scooby both nodded just before Fred exclaimed, "And I've got something here!"

Turning towards Fred, everyone else in the room looked on as Velma joined Fred and leaned in to take a good look at what the blonde has found.

Nodding along, Velma then turned to everyone else and said, "Looks like we've gotten to the bottom of this mystery, guys. I know who the mastermind behind this whole mess really is."

* * *

A short while later, the gang were back at the barn dance, where the party-goers were busy dancing away with the music.

The sheriff was waiting for them as they arrived, and he looked on with expectation as the gang approached him.

"Anything?" Moore asked.

"Well, we've found Dapper Jack's journal and Sheriff Carmichael's diary." Daphne said as she held up the journals in her hand.

"Ah, that's good to know." Moore nodded. "Anything of significance?"

"Yes, as a matter a fact, there is." Fred nodded as he took the journals and made his way onto the podium with the microphone.

The crowd in the barn paused and turned towards the stage, where Velma joined Fred at the microphone.

"So as things turned out, before his untimely demise, Sheriff Dapper Jack was in the midst of investigating allegations of corruption." Fred began as he flipped to the corresponding page in the journal. "At a time when the town was infested with cattle-rustlers under the charge of the notorious outlaw Don Ford."

"Now, Dapper Jack has suspected that one of the deputies has been receiving kickbacks from the cattle-rustlers in return of looking the other way, and being the man of his principles, Dapper Jack decided to investigate the affair discreetly." Velma nodded before holding up Carmichael's diary and said, "However, Carmichael had gotten wise to Dapper Jack's investigation and conspired with Ford to bring down the sheriff."

"Day after day, the two planted evidence of cattle-rustling in the sheriff's office and the cover their tracks, and then eventually, one day, Carmichael had Ford make off with the loot from a bank robbery and placing Dapper Jack onto the chase." Fred continued. "Carmichael went with the sheriff and waited for the right moment to strike, which he did and Dapper Jack and Ford both fell to their deaths while locked in mortal combat."

"However, before that final showdown occurred, Ford had a falling out with Carmichael." Velma said as she flipped through the pages. "Carmichael felt that Ford hasn't been following through with his promises to increase his payments to him, and Ford, who had his own set of principles, was planning to squeal to the sheriff."

"And so, Carmichael actually arranged for Ford and Dapper Jack to encounter each other at the cliff following that bank robbery." Fred nodded. "While the two men were talking, Carmichael, a brilliant marksman from his days in the Civil War, ambushed the two men and fired the killing shots that led to the two men falling down the cliff to their deaths, and then he staged the scene of the struggle to make it look like the two men had fell off the cliff while locked in a struggle."

"So in the end, it was Carmichael who was the main mastermind behind all of this and he was able to kill two birds with one stone." Moore surmised.

"He did, taking over as sheriff and taking over the town's rackets while he was at it once the gang of outlaws was without a leader." Velma nodded as well.

"Wait, so if Carmichael was really responsible for Dapper Jack's untimely demise, why is the town being haunted by his ghost?" Buffalo Billy asked from the crowd.

"Simple." Daphne said. "Because someone's been taking advantage of this ghost appearance to buy out the whole town cheap and transform it into a resort town."

Then, turning to the sheriff, she added, "Isn't that right, Sheriff Rafe Moore?"

Everyone gasped as their eyes all settled on the sheriff, who was equally surprised by the accusation.

"M-me?" Moore sputtered before bursting out laughing and added, "That's ridiculous! You know that I would never jeopardize the safety of this whole county!"

Turning towards Dusty, he then added, "Am I right, Deputy Dusty?"

Expecting a light-hearted look or a look of surprise on Dusty's face, Moore's smile disappeared when he was only met by Dusty's glare, a glare shared by Yabba and the gang.

"I don't think so." Dusty shook his head. "Not after what Fred and Velma had discovered while we were searching through Kyle's study."

"That's right." Daphne nodded as Larry moved quick to lasso him. "You see, while Kyle was carrying out the Ghost attacks at your bidding under the promise of receiving a lucrative sum from you as an equal partner of Black Rattler Management, he also had access to the documents in your office when you two were making plans for the ghost appearance."

"And what sort of documents are we talking about here?" Moore scoffed as he turned towards Daphne.

"Documents detailing your ownership of Black Rattler Management and the dubious accounting that forms a majority of its financial records." Fred said. "You see, I've got a brother who's studying business in university, and he has told me about BRM's unethical business practices regarding the way it acquires real estate."

"In the form of an offer which the landowner can't refuse, especially after strange going-ons occur at the property after the owner turns down the offer in spite of the generous compensation." Velma nodded. "When you bring those strange going-ons into the picture of the property value, it goes down and the owner is left with no choice but to accept the offer and move out while BRM acquires it."

"Like, and the documents Kyle managed to get his hands onto detailed a number of shady business dealings you had with the disgraced ex-president of Union Bank in Coolsville, Carl Carswell." Shaggy folded his arms. "Who as you all remembered, was sacked by the bank's board of directors after we exposed his embezzlement activities last year."

"And that wasn't the end of the story." Daphne continued. "Carswell turned out to be involved in money-laundering, and BRM was one of the clients who had benefited from his money-laundering scheme."

"But if the sheriff was indeed connected to Carl Carswell, how is it that his involvement in Carswell's money-laundering scheme didn't hit the news?" Tawny asked.

"Simple." Daphne snapped her fingers. "Moore set up shell companies to act as the stakeholders of BRM. All Fred and Velma did was following the money trail, which lead us back to you, Sheriff Moore, however long it took."

"And considering BRM's dubious reputation when it comes to acquiring property, it's a foregone conclusion that you were the mastermind in Dapper Jack's ghost appearances in town in order to drive down the land prices so that BRM can buy out the whole town dirt cheap and transform it into a resort town." Yabba concluded as they all glared at Moore.

"Isn't that right, Sheriff?" Velma added.

At this point, Moore didn't bother maintaining the kind façade he had hide his true colours behind all this time and snapped.

"You know something?!" He barked. "You meddling kids got me! I was hoping to make this town great again by turning it into a resort town centred around the legend of Dapper Jack's ghost with the intention of having the two missing journals on display at the museum."

"Well, if there's one thing you don't understand, _sheriff_ , it's the fact that this town has always been great and that it doesn't have to be great again." Dusty retorted. "In fact, your scheme involves dragging the reputation of my great-great-grandfather through the mud and I don't intend to let that happen under my watch!"

"Yeah!" Yabba agreed as he and Scooby started growling at Moore.

Eying the drama unfolding, Moore said, "Very well, then. I guess this town can rot in the dustbins of history like Gold City."

Then, without warning, he managed to break the lasso bounding him, grabbed his gun and aimed it right at Daphne.

"However, that doesn't mean I'm going down without a fight!" He added as everyone gasped.

Without missing a beat, Moore moved quick to grab Daphne and with the barrel at her chest, he barked, "One move, and this girl dies!"

As everyone in the barn stood still as rigid as a pile of lumber, Moore dragged Daphne towards the barn entrance, where Tawny was standing at with the prize money from the rodeo.

Fixing the barrel at Daphne's chest, Moore swiftly grabbed the trophy and prize money from Tawny as he said, "I'll be taking this if you don't mind."

Then, with the prize money and Daphne as his hostage, Moore quickly made his way to the stagecoach, hastily ties up Daphne, pushed her into the stagecoach and then sat on the driver's seat and swing the rein, leading the horses hauling the stagecoach to take off.

As everyone poured out from the barn and watched Moore making his getaway in the stagecoach with a tied-up Daphne and the prize money, there was plenty of panic from the crowd.

"We have to stop him making his getaway!" Velma shouted.

"But how are we going to stop him?" Dusty asked. "That stagecoach is pulled by two of the strongest horses in town. Any other horse will have significant trouble catching up to the stagecoach."

"Except one." Tawny corrected just as they heard a horse neighing.

Turning to look, they saw Shaggy and Scooby riding on the horse that made the neighing.

"Like, Scoob and I will try to head them off at the pass." Shaggy shouted as they took off. "Keep the peace around here while we're gone, cousin!"

"Right." Dusty nodded as the horse with Shaggy and Scooby took off into the darkness.

Noting the lack of lighting on the road, Velma turned towards Fred.

"Wouldn't it be dangerous for them to go out in the dark like this?" She asked.

At that remark, Fred remembered something.

"Say, maybe we can help out!" He said before pointing at a certain direction and added, "Get those fireworks ready!"

Everyone's face expression brightened at the suggestion. Without missing a minute, they all rushed over to get the fireworks ready.

* * *

Meanwhile, Shaggy and Scooby were speeding down the dirt road through the dark desert

Noting the lack of lights, Shaggy remarked, "Like, maybe going out in the dark isn't such a good idea, Scoob. I can't see the stagecoach well."

"Reah." Scooby nodded just as their attention was diverted by a loud explosion from the night sky, which was then followed by several flashes of light.

"Fireworks!" Shaggy exclaimed as he recognized the noise.

Turning to the back, he then added, "Thanks, fellas!"

He then swung the rein to direct the horse to speed up.

It didn't take long for them to catch up to the stagecoach, and considering their options, Shaggy turned to Scooby.

"Like, you get onto the stagecoach to rescue Daph and get the prize money, Scoob." He said quickly. "I'll be right behind you guys."

"Rokay, Raggy." Scooby nodded as they approached the back of the stagecoach.

Keeping pace with the coach, Scooby stood up on the horse's back and then made the leap.

He managed to hang onto the rear edge of the coach and then attempted to climb onto the roof.

At that moment, Daphne managed to free herself from the lasso just as a bump in the road caused Scooby to fall through the open exit on the roof and landed inside the coach.

"Raphne!" Scooby said.

"Scooby!" Daphne said cheerfully. "You came to rescue me?"

"Reah!" Scooby said excitedly before licking her in the face, causing her to laugh.

"Oh, I don't need you to rescue me." Daphne said after the licking, revealing that she managed to free herself from her bonds. "But thanks anyways."

Scooby nodded before Daphne continued, "Now, I'll try to get the money while you try to get to the horses, Scooby."

"Rou sure?" Scooby asked.

In that moment that Scooby ended up falling through the roof exit, Moore heard the sound and turned and saw Shaggy riding his horse in pursuit.

"You again?!" He growled.

"Like, you won't be getting away with this!" Shaggy shouted. "Stop when you have the chance!"

"Huh." Moore snorted as he stood up, opened the bench compartment of the driver's seat, took out a rifle and aimed it at Shaggy. "I don't think so."

He then fired the rifle, only for the shot to hit a nearby cactus Shaggy had just rode by.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as he struggled to maintain control of the horse, who was spooked by the sound of gunfire and the near-miss.

Back Inside the coach, Scooby and Daphne heard the gunshot.

Knowing that they don't have time to discuss, Scooby nodded without waiting for Daphne's reply.

"Ret's go!" Scooby said.

Daphne nodded as she prepared to climb up through the roof exit while Scooby opened the side door and tried to reach for the front end of the coach.

At that moment, Moore, seeing Shaggy still not willing to give up, aimed his rifle once more.

"You only live twice, Mr. Rogers." He said through gritted teeth. "I won't miss twice!"

But just as he was about to pull the trigger, Daphne suddenly emerged from the roof exit, right below the barrel of the rifle, and her hitting the barrel caused the shot that was meant for Shaggy to be diverted towards the sky.

At the sight of Daphne breaking free, Moore gasped in surprise.

"You!" Moore exclaimed as he dropped the rifle in surprise.

"Uh-huh." Daphne smirked as she grabbed the prize money and added, "I'll be taking this if you don't mind."

During the exchange, Shaggy managed to speed up and help get Scooby onto one of the two horses hauling the coach before moving further ahead.

At that same instant, Daphne grabbed the prize money and jumped off the roof before Moore could react, just in time for Shaggy to stop his horse and reach his arms out to catch his friend.

"That was perfect timing, Shaggy." Daphne said as Shaggy helped support her as she settled down on the saddle.

"Thanks, Daph." Shaggy smiled as he swung the rein and the horse took off once again. "I'm just happy you're alright."

Daphne nodded as she held onto Shaggy's shoulders while they caught up with the stagecoach.

Seeing that the two sleuths have the prize money, Moore growled, "You can't stop me!"

"Like, we don't have to!" Shaggy shouted with a smirk as he pointed towards the front.

"Huh?" Moore asked as he turned his attention back to the front.

As it turned out, Scooby had managed to detach the horses from the coach, which effectively left the speeding coach with no control.

"Nah, nah, nah!" Scooby taunted at Moore as he stick his tongue out before the two horses took off and moved out of the way.

At this point, the coach and the three horses were approaching a grade crossing with a steam train approaching.

Moore, seeing that he can't slow the stagecoach down as it sped out of control towards the grade crossing, muttered, "Aw, shucks!"

At the moment the coach crossed the tracks, Moore quickly jumped off the coach as the steam locomotive rammed through the coach while Shaggy, Scooby and Daphne looked on.

Moore had a hard landing after jumping from the coach at the last minute, and after the train passed, he saw a shadowed cowboy figure on a horse approaching him.

The figure, with the fireworks lights in the background further darkening the figure's appearance, look exactly like Marshal Dapper Jack Rogers as he cornered an outlaw he was about to capture.

"Ma...Marshal...Dapper Jack..." Moore wheezed. "I...I'm sorry."

He then passed out while the figure moved out of the shadows. There was a brief sighting of Dapper Jack on that horse before it faded into that of Shaggy with Daphne looking on as Scooby joined them.

"Like, I think I'm starting to get used to being mistaken for my great-great-granduncle, guys." Shaggy remarked.

Scooby and Daphne both chuckled as they all dismounted from the horses and tend to Moore, where the first thing Shaggy did was removing the sheriff's badge from Moore's vest.

* * *

 **One more chapter to go, folks!**

 **Please read and review!**


	16. The End

Chapter 16: The End

 _July 25, 1971_

It didn't take long for the state police to respond to the emergency call from Tumbleweed County concerning the county's arrest of its own sheriff, as evidenced by the following morning when the gang saw the CSP squad car arrive in town.

The now-ex-sheriff was put away in the town's jail for the night, held under lock and key, and Dusty made a point in making sure that the ex-sheriff doesn't plan an escape overnight.

After the CSP squad car stopped in front of the town jail, two troopers stepped out and made their way to the crowd.

"Deputy Daniel Rogers?" The first trooper asked when he saw Dusty standing by the jail entrance.

"That's me." Dusty nodded as he pointed towards the jail with his thumb and added, "He's locked up in Cell B in there."

The troopers both nodded as they made their way into the jail. In no time, they were hauling the handcuffed Moore out of the cells after reading him his Miranda rights.

As Moore was led away to the state police squad car, he turned and saw the gang standing by watching the arrest and growled.

"I would've gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling kids!" Moore growled as he was being pushed into the cruiser.

The gang all silently looked on with neutral looks on their faces, and it was only after the cruiser drove off that Fred broke the silence.

"Well, that wraps up another mystery, gang." He said as he turned to the others.

"Yes indeed." Daphne nodded. "Not to mention that it was quite the adventure."

"Especially since we get to learn more about Dapper Jack's history and the true story behind his untimely demise." Shaggy added.

"It's too bad, though." Velma frowned. "The legend was attracting the attention of tourists just as we got to the bottom of this mystery, and with the legend now debunked, how's the town gonna survive?"

"We'll figure out a way." Dusty shrugged. "Besides, it's not like Dapper Jack didn't have any other tall tales associated with him."

"Yes." Tawny nodded. "After all, I'm sure there are going to be people who are interested in hearing how Dapper Jack single-handedly managed to take down a dozen well-armed gunslingers while armed with only a whip."

She then turned to Shaggy and wrapped her arms as she continued, "Either way, we really owe you our thanks, cousin."

"Yeah." Dusty smiled before Shaggy could reply.

Patting his back, he continued, "We weren't have gotten to where we are now if it weren't for your help."

"Ah, like, there's no need to thank me, guys." Shaggy smiled as he waved a hand dismissively. "Not when everyone in the gang did their part in getting to the bottom of this case, especially Scoob old buddy here, and besides, that's what family is for, eh?"

"Reah." Scooby agreed as he and Yabba gave each other brotherly high-fives.

Tawny finished hugging Shaggy as he continued, "Not to mention that all it matters is that you guys still got your ranch house here."

"True." Tawny nodded. "Anyways, I hope you guys aren't heading home until tomorrow, because we've got the barn dance party pushed to this afternoon and I'm sure that after solving this mystery, you guys could sure use the break."

"And don't forget that we still got that buffet at the barn dance." Dusty added.

Shaggy and Scooby's eyes both brightened, and they both licked their licks.

"Well, you guys can sure count us in!" Shaggy said enthusiastically before turning to the rest of the gang and added, "What do you say, gang?"

Fred and the girls shared looks with each other, then turned back to the Rogerses and Doos and smiled.

"After solving this mystery, how could we say no?" Fred smiled.

"And speaking of mysteries, there's one thing that still bothers me." Shaggy said.

"What is it, Shag?" Daphne asked.

Feeling his chin, Shaggy said, "Since Dapper Jack had such a large beard, I wonder what could be preventing me or Daniel from growing one?"

"Oh, I'm sure you guys will find your answer some time later down the road." Tawny said as she placed her hand on Shaggy's shoulders.

"That is, if you've decided to work as Dapper Jack's reenactor, Shaggy." Velma remarked.

At the remark, everyone all laughed and chuckled.

* * *

Later that afternoon, the barn dance was well underway.

As he stepped onto the stage, Buffalo Billy smiled when he saw the gang entering the barn, and then he turned to the band beside him and nodded.

The lead banjo player nodded back and it was then that the scene shifts over to the two fiddlers- Carol and Sharon.

Noticing the sisters, Fred turned to Dusty and remarked, "I didn't know those two sisters play the fiddle."

"They do, and they're very good at it!" Midge, who was standing nearby and overheard Fred's remark, said.

Buffalo Billy, after clearing his throat, walked over to the microphone and finally started his singing.

 _"If it hadn't been for Cotton Eyed Joe, I'd been married a long time ago._ " Billy began. _"Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from, Cotton Eyed Joe?"_

At the beginning of the lyrics, everyone in the barn cheered and several dancers began moving onto the dance floor located between the crowd and the stage to began their dancing.

With the dancing in full swing, the band and violinists began performing the instruments as Billy paused briefly.

As the music started picking up steam and the beat in full swing, Billy nodded as he returned to the mic.

" _If it hadn't been for Cotton Eyed Joe, I'd been married a long time ago._ _Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from, Cotton Eyed Joe?_ " He sang, during which he spotted his sister Debbie swinging around excitedly.

Without missing a beat, Billy swung his arm and invited his sister onto the stage, an invite which Debbie happily complied to.

As Debbie jumped onto the stage, Dusty began joining the crowd of dancers with Tawny.

Eying Shaggy standing by the side with a drink in hand, Daphne walked over.

"Hey." Shaggy said when he saw Daphne joining him.

"Hey." Daphne smiled. "You planning to dance?"

"I would, though Mags isn't here and I always have two left feet whenever Velma joins me." Shaggy shrugged.

"I see what you mean." Daphne nodded thoughtfully. "I would've asked Fred to join me, but he can't dance with a broken leg."

"Yeah." Shaggy nodded back. "It's a shame."

The two friends remained silent for a while, and they continued to watch Dusty and Tawny dancing away with the music.

Daphne was getting bored standing around and doing nothing, and seeing Shaggy idly sipping away at his drink, she decided to do something.

Wordlessly, she tapped Shaggy in the shoulder, leading him to turn towards her.

"Huh?" Shaggy asked as he turned towards Daphne.

Without a word, Daphne smiled as she grabbed his hand and tugged him onto the dance floor, forcing Shaggy to let go of his drink, in time for Scooby to catch it and finish the rest of it.

Finding himself on the dance floor with Daphne, Shaggy asked.

"Like, what was that for, Daph?" He asked, though in a playful tone rather than an accusing tone.

"You know that I do get bored when I have to stand by the side and do nothing while a dance is underway, Shag." Daphne smiled. "Besides, you said it yourself. The dance floor isn't gonna dance itself if we keep standing around and do nothing."

"Right, right." Shaggy nodded, and after turning to glance at his cousin and then at Billy, he added, "Shall we?"

Daphne nodded. "You know what to do, Shag."

Shaggy nodded back, and together, the two friends began dancing away just as Debbie began singing.

" _He came to town like a midwinter storm, he rode through the fields, so handsome and strong._ " She sang. " _His eyes was his tools and his smile was his gun,_ _but all he had come for was having some fun._ "

Then, smiling at Billy, Debbie stepped back as her brother took over.

 _"If it hadn't been for Cotton Eyed Joe, I'd been married a long time ago._ " Billy continued. _"Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from, Cotton Eyed Joe?"_

During this time, Scooby, Yabba, Fred and Velma gathered together and watched Shaggy and Daphne dancing away as if they had practiced dancing many times beforehand.

"Would you look at those two." Velma remarked as the duo turned and danced on hand-in-hand. "Leaving us to stand around while they're having fun."

"Well, with my broken arm and leg and your sprain ankle, Velms, the best we could do is standing by and, uh, look our best." Fred shrugged as Velma turned to him. "Besides, I'm sure you wouldn't want Shag to keep stepping on your feet while you guys are dancing away."

"Good point." Velma nodded thoughtfully. "Though I don't know why Shag suddenly becomes an expert in dancing when he's dancing with Daphne."

"Probably because only Daph can help him get through with his clumsiness." Fred observed before shrugging again and added, "Anyways, mind if you sign the cast on my leg, Velms?"

Velma smiled as she grabbed a marker and said, "I'd thought you'll never ask."

Fred nodded as Debbie sang, " _He brought disaster wherever he went,_ _the hearts of the girls went underground, broken and sent._ _They all ran away so nobody would know,_ _and left only men 'cause of Cotton-Eye Joe._ "

After another pause, Billy took over.

 _"If it hadn't been for Cotton Eyed Joe, I'd been married a long time ago._ " Billy continued. _"Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from, Cotton Eyed Joe?_ "

At this point, most of the attention was drawn onto the dancers, where everyone was swing their arms wildly, jumping and folding and unfolding their legs.

Shaggy and Daphne were enjoying the dance, especially when they danced hand-in-hand together, and at one point, both of them tipped their cowboy hats and waved it around.

"Woo-hoo!" Shaggy exclaimed.

"Ye-haw!" Scooby shouted back as the crowd continued clapping their hands with the beat of the music.

Eventually, the song reached its final climax before the band stopped its playing and Billy turned towards the dance floor and crowd.

 _"If it hadn't been for Cotton Eyed Joe, I'd been married a long time ago._ " Billy finished. _"Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from, Cotton Eyed Joe?_ "

At that ending, everyone started applauding and the dancers stopped before bowing at them.

Eyeing Shaggy, Dusty, Tawny and Daphne bowing, Fred, Velma, Scooby and Yabba all whistled loudly.

* * *

That evening, most of the town had gathered at Dusty and Tawny's home as the gang prepared to head home to Coolsville.

By this point, everyone in the gang had changed back to their normal outfits, although Shaggy was still wearing his cowboy hat.

"I'm glad that you guys enjoyed your stay here." Tawny said as the gang gathered by the side of the Mystery Machine once they had loaded their luggage. "Quite a shame you guys can't stay any longer."

"Oh, we had a lot of fun, Tawny." Velma said. "It's just that we felt that we've got enough fun for the summer."

"Especially with Dapper Jack's Ghost causing trouble around town." Daphne nodded. "And speaking of which, what's to become of you guys here in town, Dusty?"

"Well, I just received word from state police that a police board would be temporarily taking over policing in the county, considering the fact that Tumbleweed County doesn't have home rule." Dusty explained.

"You guys are still gonna go to work as usual?" Fred raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, it's just that we will be reporting to the board instead of the sheriff." Dusty nodded. "And after the board concludes its inquiry into Moore's actions, they will formally begin the process of interviewing candidates to fill the position of sheriff."

"Like, I take it that the guys in your department would be considered first." Shaggy interjected.

"Of course, since we don't feel comfortable with an outsider filling the office of sheriff on a permanent basis." Dusty explained. "Right now, my stock is on Captain Dillon Jesperson becoming our next sheriff, though he is currently on sick leave after contracting a stomach bug a couple weeks ago."

Everyone else nodded thoughtfully, and then Fred said, "Well, we should get going now, gang, if we want to get back home before midnight."

"Yeah, of course." Daphne nodded as the gang made their way to the van.

With some handshakes and hugs, one by one, the gang got onto the Mystery Machine with Daphne behind the wheel.

"Take care, cousin." Shaggy was saying to Dusty as Daphne started the van.

"I sure will, cousin." Dusty nodded as he and Shaggy shared a hug.

After the hug, Shaggy turned to Tawny and added, "Same to you, Tawny. It's been a pleasure."

"I can say the same to you, Cousin Norville." Tawny smiled as they embraced.

During this time, Scooby and Yabba were taking part in their brotherly-type farewell ritual, which involved a number of high-fives and paw-shakes before the brothers finally shared a hug with each other.

"Take care of yourself, Yabba." Scooby said as he hugged his youngest brother and patted his back.

"I sure will, Scoobert." Yabba nodded as he patted Scooby back. "Do say hi to the rest of the family for me, especially Ruby. I hope Scrappy isn't too much for a pup his age."

"You know Ruby, Yabba. She's got everything under control." Scooby said, though he kinda shuddered at the reminder of what he and Shaggy went through when they were at the hospital for Scrappy's birth couple years ago. "No need to worry too much about her."

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind me dropping by to say hi and give her an extra helping-paw when I have the time, Scoobert." Yabba said.

Scooby smiled. "Ruby would sure appreciate that."

Then, breaking the embrace, the older Great Dane made his way to the Mystery Machine, but not before giving his brother a farewell pat in the back.

"Anyways, take care of yourself, Yippity-Dippity-Doo!" Scooby said.

"You can count on that, Scooby-Dooby-Doo!" Yabba smiled.

Soon, the entire town was waving farewell at the departing Mystery Machine, all of them giving thanks to the gang for clearing up the mess caused by Moore's scheme.

Driving down the highway, Shaggy sat by the front passenger window as he and Scooby shared looks with Fred and Velma through the rear-view mirror.

"I gotta say that that was quite the adventure, gang." Fred said from his backseat.

"Like, you can say that again, Freddie." Shaggy agreed. "In fact, it's great to get to know one of my distant relatives and the legacy he left behind in the town in spite of his untimely demise."

"Amen to that, Shaggy." Daphne smiled.

Shaggy and Scooby both smiled before turning their glance towards the side window, upon which their eyes widened when they spotted something, or rather, someone riding on a horse and looking over the valley from the distant cliff.

The cowboy on the horse looked exactly like Shaggy, only that his hair was longer and he had a beard.

He was immediately joined by a brown-furred Great Dane sporting a cowboy hat and wearing an ascot.

The Great Dane looked exactly like Scooby, only that he had a moustache.

Even in the distance, Shaggy and Scooby both recognized the cowboy and his dog standing on the cliff overseeing the desert valley.

"I don't believe it, Scoob." Shaggy whispered as he briefly shared looks with Scooby.

"Reither do Ri, Raggy." Scooby nodded. "But rit's rem."

Shaggy and Scooby then turned back towards the cliff, in time to see the real spirits of Jackson "Dapper Jack" Rogers and Atlas Doo looking at them.

The cowboy and Great Dane both tipped their hats as they shared eye contact with their great-great-grandnephews, and then they were soon joined by a redhead, who held Dapper Jack's hand and gently tugged it.

Recognizing his wife, Dapper Jack smiled before he and Atlas joined her and turned away from the desert valley, disappearing as they walked away from the cliff.

Briefly catching sight of the spirit of Dapper Jack's wife before the spirits retreated back to where they came from, Shaggy and Scooby both turned towards Daphne, who was busy handling the steering wheel.

There was some bit a resemblance between Cindy and Daphne, though Cindy was clearly dressed in a Victorian-style dress with her hair in pig ties and is much more physically fit to meet the demands of the everyday outdoor labours of ranch work.

Noting that Fred and Velma had fell asleep in the back seats, Shaggy and Scooby shared looks with each other.

"Did you see what I just saw, Scoob?" Shaggy whispered.

"Ro, Ri didn't." Scooby shook his head.

"Neither did I." Shaggy nodded back.

The two then turned their attention back towards the scenery around them as the scene shifts to outside the Mystery Machine.

As the Mystery Machine drives towards the sunset, Scooby can be heard howling.

"Scooby-Dooby-Doo!" He howled towards the red-orange sky colours in the distance, while some cactuses can be seen swaying from the night wind in the background.

* * *

 **And so concludes my rewrite of _Shaggy's Showdown!_ Any thoughts regarding the rewrite of this film and when compared to the original film?**

 **The adventures of Mystery Inc. in my Dimension Four series continues in _D4 Scooby-Doo! Riddle of_ _le Chevalier de Place des Arts,_ which will feature my FictionPress character Garfield Stephenson Wu, so stay tuned!**

 **Please read and review!**


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